This isn't a dance; it's Hell with streamers.
by StarDragon
Summary: A.K.A The Cliche Card!! What happens when a card arrives and lands everyone in annoyingly predicatable situations?! Havoc! Chaos! and lotsa fun for everyone!! Enjoy!!
1. And let the insanity begin!

****

This isn't a Dance; it's Hell with Streamers.

Chapter one: Let the insanity begin!

This is going to be a Halloween based story, and yes I know perfectly well that Halloween was ages ago…I actually had the idea _around_ Halloween…I just had to finish my first story before I could start writing this one. You don't necessarily have to have read my first story, 'My Magical Misadventure' (being my first it probably well _sucked_) but you need to be familiar with my characters from it. 

I'll give you a brief rundown:

****

Kallayna/Kalla: Knows (and occasionally uses) basically _all_ forms of magic, but is best at using healing magic. Transforms into a dragon or a half dragon/half human if the situation calls for it. Can communicate telepathically. 17 years old. 

****

Icarus/Ike: Parents died when he was young, and so was brought by Oberon and Lexis. (See below) Kalla's best friend, and occasionally her 'partner in crime'. (i.e. to bug Sakura and Li.) Best at using magic to conjure up stuff. Can transform into a giant hawk or a half hawk/half human thing. Can communicate telepathically. 17 years old.

****

Oberon and Lexis: Kalla's parents. Where King and Queen of planet Tee-el until it was blown up. For obvious reason they now live on Earth. (For more info. See 'My Magical Misadventure'.) Oberon can transform into a wolf or a werewolf. (Half wolf/half human, but minus the whole biting cursing thing that you usually associate with werewolf's.) Lexis, like Kalla, can turn into a dragon or a half dragon/half human. Both possess encyclopedic knowledge of all magic. 

****

Marcus: Oberon's brother, and can turn into a wolf or werewolf if needed. 

****

Trix, Flynn and Sage: Sisters (identical triplets to be exact). Parents unknown. Appear pretty ditsy on the outside, but are actually pretty smart. House maids at Marcus's estate. Don't possess much magic. Mainly use it to make housework easier. Usually seen pestering Li about when he's going to ask Sakura out. Can transform into cats, (all with pitch black fur but Trix has green colored eyes, Flynn has blue, and Sage has purplish colored eyes, kinda like Madison's), or half human/half cat people. 

Umm I think that's about it… This ones gonna defiantly have lots of s+s in it…There's not that much in the first chapter, coz I'm leaving that for later on…heh heh heh (evil grin ) ). 

Anyway, you know the drill, I don't own nuthin…so no suing allowed! 

Please r+r!! 

-----------

****

Sakura's POV: Madison's room

Several months had passed since the battle and consequent defeat of Quillor, and quite a lot had happened. Kalla and Ike had become quite respected members of society, and were seen by the adult community as mature, respectable young adults. Well. Ike was the mature one anyway. Kalla seemed to have a split personality. Sure, she was mature enough when the adults were around, but just wait till they leave, _then_ she acts more immature than us. Lexis and Oberon settled in quickly, and were now living with Marcus. To everyone of the magical community, they were still respected as royalty. To everyone else, they were respected as rich socialites who through a _lot_ of parties. In between the numerous garden parties and social events, Kalla and Ike usually hung out with us. So we had plenty of opportunity to see Kalla's true personality shine. 

Like today, for example. Halloween was coming up, and as a result the school was holding an outdoors celebration/fair/party, whatever you wanted to call it. (Funding courtesy of Kalla's parents and Madison's Mum). It was going to have rides (probably mostly haunted castles…yippee) games and prizes, even a 'Haunted Disco' (that name was actually agreed on by class vote…funny, I always thought democracy worked…). And of course, nothing says Halloween like costumes. They were required. 

__

Goody.

It's not that I really minded. Contrary to popular belief, I actually _enjoy_ dressing up. It's just that when Madison's you're designer, costumes have a tendency to be over the top. 

So anyway, Kalla and I were over at Madison's, and we were currently discussing the upcoming event. 

And by we, of course, I mean Madison and Kalla. 

It's not like I have my own opinion or anything. 

I sighed and looked down at the growing list of costume possibilities that my two 'fashion consultants' were mulling over. 

But it wasn't just for me. 

"What about a chicken?" 

Kalla's eyes lit up at Madison's suggestion

"Ooh! Ooh! And Li can be a _rooster_."

I slowly rubbed a hand down my face, as the list kept growing. * uggh and I thought their first ideas were bad, but this is just getting ridiculous. * 

Madison chewed on the end of her pen, while Kalla rubbed her chin in thought. 

"What about a costume from the Moulin Rouge…Sakura could be courtesan!" 

"Yeah! And we can design it just like the ones they wear in the video clip!"

My eyes bugged out and I waved my hands frantically in front of them "OH NO…NUH-UH, _NO WAY!_" 

I'd _seen_ that video clip. 

"I don't care _what_ you say, I am _not_ wearing corset…and whatever else they actually wear…or don't wear…"

"But you'll look great Sakura!" 

That's Madison for you. She'd probably think I'd look great if I were dressed in a potato sack…as long as it had puffy sleeves of course…

I shot her one of Li's patented glares, which logically, should have made a small section of the room implode. I gritted my teeth. "**_Hell_** would have to freeze over first…"

Kalla, staring off into space replied "That can be arranged you know…" 

* _Why me?_ *

I buried my face in my hands, as the conversation went back to costumes. 

"But what will Li go as?"

Both girls frowned in thought, then Kalla piped up. "He can go as a pimp!"

I my head shot up, mortified "Kalla!"

Thankfully, Madison was on the same wave-link as me. "Naa, wrong character. If Li went as a pimp, Sakura would have to go as a prostitute…" 

"…" 

Their eyes simultaneously lit up.

* They _cannot_ be serious * I looked up. 

Oh yeah, they were serious. 

Kalla looked thoughtful for a second. "But isn't a courtesan and a prostitute basically the same thing?"

"Yeah, kinda, but I think a courtesan is more upper class…"

*I can't believe they're actually discussing it…*

I groaned and rubbed my face again, then made a sort of whimper. 

"Can't I just use an old battle costume?" 

Madison's looked like she was going to have a seizure. Kalla patted her sympathetically on the back. "Of course not. Li's seen them all, we've gotta think of something new."

I flipped. "_New?! _How can you possibly come up with something _new?_ I've got a different costume for practically every genre imaginable…and you want something _new!!_" 

"Calm down Sakura, you'll give yourself wrinkles if you're stressed out. Li doesn't need to see that until you two grow old together."

* oh dear _God_, this cannot get any worse. *

I was oh-so-_very_ wrong.

Madison started to flap her hands around like she was having an epileptic fit or something. "Ooooh ooohh! They can go as a bride and groom!"

I blocked my ears and cringed as they started squealing. Several dogs down the street started to bark when it got to a pitch that only they could here.

"This is beyond sad, you two _do _realize that don't you?"

Mind you, some of their earlier ideas were pretty neat. I was narrowing it down to the ones I thought were the tamest, (which wasn't really saying much if you'd actually _seen_ the earlier ideas). I kinda liked their 'Fairy Princess' idea, which they insisted would not look at all like the 'Fairy Princess' battle costume. 

But like the rest, they wanted Li to match. 

Somehow I didn't like their chances of getting him into a pair of green spandex tights and pixie wings…

"Explain to me _why_ Li has to wear a costume that matches mine?" 

Madison grinned. "Oh c'mon Sakura we told you before, it's so he might get ideas to ask you out" she glanced at my mortified expression "and don't give me that look, we _know_ you like him…"

Now, there is only one thing to do in a situation like this…

Deny, deny, deny.

"I DO NOT!"

"Sure sure…"

My left eye started to twitch all psychotic like. "We're just FRIENDS!"

Kalla rolled her eyes and simpered, "ooh we're just friends…" an evil grin spread across her features "then why do you have his number on speed dial?" 

Now my right eye was starting to twitch. I was going to crack any minute now. Then they'd be in trouble. I could practically see the headlines now… 

__

'Two upper-class teenage girls found beaten to a bloody pulp'. 

'Rumors spread of a satanic cult as Police release footage of the wand-like weapon used'. 

'Culprit still at large; Last seen wearing a strange costume with puffy sleeves…'. 

I was so angry, all I could do was splutter. "Wha-you-_I have everyone's number on speed dial!"_

Kalla picked up my pink cell phone, which was lying on the floor, and waggled it in front of my face.

"Oh yeah, then how come _his_ is number one?" 

"I-It's for emergencies!"

She raised an eyebrow, then threw her hand dramatically onto her forehead, putting on a fake woebegone expression. "Oh Li, I've fallen and I can't get up, I need you to come and give me mouth-to-mouth resuscitation…"

"Kalla!" 

I swear, I was _this _close to going ballistic. I made a dive for my cell, which Kalla was doing smoochy noises into, but I missed as she rolled out of the way and jumped up. I shot a pleading glance at Madison, but she was too busy rolling around on the ground laughing to be much help. 

I took a deep breath and tried the calm approach. "Kalla…give me the phone…"

She grinned at me "Nope!"

"I _mean_ it Kalla…give it to me."

She hesitated for a second. 

Then _that_ glint came into her eyes. _That_ glint, I did not like. _That_ glint, I would be all too happy never to see again in my life. 

That look meant only one thing. 

She was going to do something _evil_.

She glanced down at the phone in her hands, then chucked it to me. "Okay! There you go."

I caught it, mildly shocked that she had actually _listened_ to me, when I heard a voice drift out of the phone. "Hello, Li speaking"

* _Oh…My…**God**…_*

I almost dropped the damn thing as I fumbled to put it up to my ear. *_shit shit **shit**_…she pressed the speed dial!…ooh she is _soo_ going to pay for that…* 

"LI!" I coughed, trying to get my voice to go back down to its normal pitch. "Li…err hi…"

"Is that you Sakura? …What's wrong with your voice?"

"Err umm nothing! Kalla just err dropped something heavy on my foot and it err…hurt." 

I shot her a glare, mouthing the words. 'I'm going to hurt you.' She mouthed back, 'Ask him out!' Madison was trying so hard not to laugh that she was actually snorting.

I turned my attention to the problem at hand. "Uhh you're probably wondering why I called huh?"

"…yeahhhh…"

Kalla tapped me on the shoulder and mouthed enthusiastically 'Ask him to the dance.' I swatted at her with my free hand, in a vain attempt to get her to leave me alone, then mouthed. 'I swear, I _will_ kill you'. Which was probably not the best thing to do. 

It just encouraged her. 

I saw her trot up to Madison them whisper something in her ear. 

"uh Sakura…are you still there?"

I spun around and walked away from the giggling pair…I had almost forgotten about Li, well _almost_. 

"err uh, sorry about that…err Madison was just asking me something…yes anyway…umm well you see…I didn't really _mean_ to call you…it's not that I don't like-err-_want_ to talk to you…uhh" 

* ooh yeah, smooth, _real_ smooth Sakura*

"umm it's just that…we were uhh doing something and I accidentally pressed the speed dial for your number…err heh heh heh. Silly me huh!" 

I chewed my lip. *Well I just won the award for the lamest excuse in history…*

"…you have my number on speed dial?"

I must have been doing a pretty damn good impression of a lobster right about now. And Kalla and Madison _weren't_ helping. They were now standing right behind me, both grinning. 

*uh ohh*

They started to sing. 

"Love is in the air…" 

Then they started to _dance_.

"Everywhere I look around"

If I had my wand out, I would have fried them on the spot.

"Love is in the air, every sight and every sound!"

I tried swatting at them again, but the just danced out of the way. 

*_Please don't let Li hear this, please don't let Li hear this…*_

"Is that Madison and Kalla singing?"

*…_shit *_

"uh no…it's the TV…"

__

Baaadddd thing to say… 

It just made them sing louder. 

" _And you don't know if you're being foolish! _

don't know if you're being wise!  
But it's something that you must believe in 

and it's there when you look in his eyes…"

I groped around me for something solid, and preferably blunt to hit them with. "Umm, Li could you hold on for a sec…"

"uh okay…"

I dropped the phone on the nearby bed, stooping low so I could grab a pillow, then proceeded to belt the crap out of them. 

"OUT OUT, GET OUT!" Giggling, they hopped out of the room. I closed the door behind them and breathed a sigh of relief, then picked up the phone. For some unknown reason, I felt a twinge of guilt. 

*…maybe I was too harsh on them…I suppose they _were_ just mucking around...*

I am a really, _really_ slow learner. 

This time they didn't just sing…they yelled. 

"LOVE IS IN THE AIR! LAA LALA LAA LALA

LOVE IS IN THE AA-AA-AAIIR!

OH OH OH OH AH AH AH AH {AN: They actually wrote the oh-oh-oh-ah bit in the lyrics for that song. Go fig.}

I jerked open the door, ready to do something painful, but they had both disappeared. I sighed again, then closed the door. 

"uhh sorry about that Li…apparently they like that song…and they uhh were singing along…"

"oh okay…"

"…"

"…"

"uhh so, umm" *I can't believe I'm going to do this * "are you going to the Halloween dance next week? Coz it would be really good if you did…I mean umm, coz we could go together, umm…as a group I mean…"

*oh my God, I sound like an idiot.*

"…I don't know Sakura…dances aren't really my thing…"

I felt my stomach drop…* ughh _stupid, stupid, stupid Sakura _* I opened my mouth to reply when I heard what sounded like a struggle, and a very familiar female sounding voice say "Oh for the love of _pete_, Li, give me that…" 

*Was that Mei-lin?!*

"Hey Sakura!"

"_Mei-lin!_"

"Yep that's me! I'm on vacation for a couple of weeks, so I'm staying at Li's again. So…has he asked you out yet?"

I screamed "what!" at about the same time I heard Li yell "Mei-lin!" This was followed by a brief scuffle, more yelling, this time in Mandarin, then a door being slammed shut. 

" Sorry about that Sakura, just had to lock him onto his balcony…" I heard loud banging, then more Mandarin, in what I could only assume was insulting.

"What is he saying?"

"uhh…you don't want to know…anyway, so I hear there is a big Halloween dance thing coming up, so are you two going as a couple?"

"WHAT?! No!…_WE'RE JUST FRIENDS!_." 

I could practically hear her eyes rolling. "Oh don't give me that…"

*Change the subject…must change the subject*

"So anyway, how have you been?"

"Stop trying to change the subject Avalon." 

"But don't you still like him?"

"Yeah I suppose I do, even though the marriage was called off, but I kinda see him more as a brother now than anything else. I was pretty obsessed for a while though wasn't I?"

" Just a bit"

She laughed. "But you have to admit, he's pretty darn spunky isn't he?"

"he he _oh_ yeah…I MEAN NO, I MEAN…_WE'RE JUST FRIENDS!_"

She started laughing again. "hehehe I knew it!" There was a sound of loud banging again…then I faintly felt Li's magic swell up in the distance. 

"Oh crap, he can pick locks… hey I gotta go…I think I just lost my phone privileges."

"oh okay… I'll see you later then okay?" 

Then I heard the last voice I wanted to hear at the moment.

"Mei-lin! Why don't you come over here, then we can make a costume for you too!" 

"MADISON! Have you been listening in the whole time!"

"…"

"Kalla was too…"

"aaaarrgghhh…"

Ignoring me, Madison continued "So anyway, bring Li too, if he doesn't kill you first…"

"Okay! We'll see you in a bit, Bye!"

I hung up and dropped the phone, then ran downstairs, spotting the two culprits huddled next to the other phone. They were once again in hysterics. Growling I lunged forward, grabbing pillows, cushions…anything not bolted to the floor and attacked. 

A few minutes later Ike walked into the door, carrying a stack of movies, Kero was perched in his backpack. 

We paused. It looked like I was trying to stuff a cushion in Madison's ear (Who was trying to give me a concussion via pillow),; whilst trying to fend off Kalla with my foot; who was in turn trying to smother me with another cushion; whilst trying to keep balance on the back of the couch. She failed and fell out of sight with a loud 'thump'. 

Ike slowly dropped the tapes to the ground. "uh did we _miss_ something?" 

----------- _   
_**Li's POV: Phone conversation with Sakura:**

I rubbed the back of my head and blushed "…I don't know Sakura…dances aren't really my thing…" I saw Mei-Lin, who had been intently listening to my side of the conversation since she heard that it was Sakura, get up and grab for the phone. "Oh for the love of _pete_, Li, give me that…"

"Mei-lin, _let go_" I struggle ensued resulting in Mei-lin being the victor. I sank onto the couch defeated, while Mei-lin happily continued the phone conversation.

"Hey Sakura!" She grinned as Sakura answered. "Yep that's me! I'm on vacation for a couple of weeks, so I'm staying at Li's again. So…has he asked you out yet?"

I yelled out "Mei-lin!" then leapt up and made a dive for the phone. I'm not really sure how it happened, but somehow I ended up on the balcony, locked out of my own house. "Mei-lin! You better open this door _right_ _now"_ She stuck her tongue out, turned around and ignored me. Luckily, I was speaking in Mandarin, otherwise the neighbors would have had an ear-full. I banged on the door again, then yelled the most insulting things I knew at Mei-lin. Still ignoring me, she flopped on the couch, twirling the phone cord in her fingers. I looked down at the lock. It didn't look _that_ complicated. I concentrated a bit of my magic on the keyhole and twisted. The lock opened with a click. *Finally, one of Kalla's lesson's that was actually useful…* 

I slid open the door, glared, and stalked towards the phone. 

"Oh crap, he can pick locks… hey I gotta go…I think I just lost my phone privileges."

"You're gonna loose more than that if you don't give me that phone." She grinned, not in the least bit scared of me, then paused. She was listening intently at whatever was being said on the other end of the phone. "Okay! We'll see you in a bit, Bye!" She rolled over, placing the phone back in its' cradle then hopped up. "C'mon Li! We're going to Madison's!"

"What?! Why?!"

She went over to the door and grabbed our jackets. "Coz she wants to make us costumes for the dance!"

"I never said I was going, and who says _you're_ going anyway."

"Oh give it a rest Li, everyone can go. So you're going…and that's final." She ignored my protests and pushed me out the door. "Besides if you don't go, Sakura will be all sad, and you don't want to make her sad do you?"

"_WE'RE JUST FRIENDS!_" 

"You know, you two sure think alike. Sakura said the exact same thing."

I growled then replied through gritted teeth. "Have you ever considered that maybe that's because it's true."

She scowled. "Man you two are both in serious denial that it's just getting sad."

"I AM NOT IN DENIAL!"

"Oh yeah, then why are you blushing. You are _obsessed_ with her."

I sighed, trying to calm down. "Mei-lin, could you just drop it." She chuckled, but kept quite anyway, giving me a chance to think. I certain green-eyed, amber haired beauty popped into my mind, causing me to blush even more. {AN: gawd…where do I come up with this stuff….} * Man I really _am_ obsessed… * I wasn't really sure when it had happened, but sometime in the near past I had fallen head-over-heals in love with Sakura. She was just so…perfect. *But I was such a jerk to her when we met. She probably hates me. * My oh-so-annoying other, more optimistic voice popped up. *She doesn't hate you. Sure you _were_ a big jerk, but she saw through that and you're friends now. Maybe if you pull a few smooth moves it could be a bit _more_ than friends, if you know what I mean Wink Wink. * 

*Oh just shut up * 

*No can do buddy, I'm part of _your_ conscience. * We finally arrived outside of Madison's massive estate, and Mei-lin rang the doorbell on the intercom, pulling me out of my conversation with myself. 

A female voice answered through the speaker. "Yes? Who is it?" 

"Mei-Lin and Li"

"Okay I'll just open the gate." The gates swung open quietly and we walked on through. Even though I had lived in an estate bigger than this one all my life, Madison's home was still impressive. We walked past the well-manicured gardens and the fountain, then up to the front door. It swung open and a smiling Madison hopped out. "Hi guys! Mei-lin, It's so good to see you again! C'mon there are some people I want you to meet. " She grabbed Mei-lin's hand and both girls trotted up the stairs and through the front door. Kalla popped her head around the door a second later "Are you coming Li, or are you just going to stand out there and practice pick up lines for Sakura all day?" I glared at her, knowing it was pointless trying to argue with her, as the more you protest, the worse she gets. I pushed past her grinning figure and walked into the house. Mei-lin was currently being introduced to Ike, as Kalla bounded in and joined them. Madison led everyone upstairs, I was bringing up the rear. Or so I thought. 

"Uh, hi Li" I turned around, even though it wasn't really necessary. I knew that voice off by heart. {AN: # cough cough # _corny_ # cough cough #} 

"oh, Hey Sakura" She stepped up so that she was standing on the same step as me and we continued up the stairs. "So umm…how's the costume coming along?"

She smiled ruefully. "Slowly. My two 'fashion consultants' are pretty much keeping it a secret until the dance. I don't even think they'll let me even choose the design." 

"Why am I not surprised." She laughed softly. I loved her laugh. It was addictive. * Hello, my name is Li Showron, and I'm a Sakura-holic * 

"So, umm, are you going to the dance?"

I ran my fingers through my hair. "Umm yeah. They aren't really giving me much of a choice." I didn't really need to explain who 'they' were. Sakura had to put up with them all morning. She laughed again. "Yeah…so do you have any ideas of what you're going as?"

I grimaced. "Do I really have to dress up?"

"OF course you do. It's a Halloween celebration after all. At least you don't have to wear them every time a card decides to show up and kill something."

"Good point."

"Have you two finished flirting coz we have movies to watch and costumes to design." Madison grinned then arched an eyebrow, as similar expression on the faces of everyone else, whom had stopped at the top of the stairs. Ike was munching on popcorn as Beelzebub – er - Kalla continued. "Then again, this is getting pretty darn interesting. Pass the popcorn please..."

My voice was full of malice, as I growled through gritted teeth for the second time that day. "_We weren't flirting_" They looked unconvinced. 

Kalla paused as everyone else smirked and headed off to Madison's room. "Sure you weren't" I was blushing so much, that I was surprised that I hadn't burst into flames. I pushed past Kalla not wanting to look Sakura in the face. If I had, I would have seen her blushing just as much as I was. 

--------

****

Sakura's POV 

I had never been so embarrassed in my life. *Who needs enemies when you have friends like these…* Kalla could be down right _evil_ when she wanted to be. Fortunately, she left us alone after that. We discussed costume possibilities for a while. Kalla and Madison it seems had decided for me what costume I was to wear, and wouldn't let me se the list. Not that that's a bad thing, because if Li had seen it I would have _died_. They had headed it "Couples costumes". Li and I were the only ones on the list. The pizza's arrived and we settled down in Madison's entertainment part of the room and watched movies. We were watching The Matrix, (The big gunfight scene, were Neo and Trinity are in the foyer, going to rescue Morpheus. {AN: Like one of my _fave _scenes in that movie!} when Madison jumped up and clapped her hands together. "I just got the _best_ idea for Li's costume." Kalla looked at her in interest. "Well oh imaginative one, are you going to share." Madison leaned over and whispered into her ear. "Hey that _is_ a good idea…" She wouldn't tell anyone else of course, but for the rest of the movie, they both had these smug expressions on their faces. I really felt sorry for Li. * Poor guy…* He was starting to sweat.

-----------

Well that's it for _this_ chapter. Next chapter: A new card starts to show itself, and all hell breaks loose! Well not quite…but it will mess around with everyone a bit, leaving them all dazed and confused! _And_ it isn't a card seen in the series. (i.e. I'm just making it up) SO stay tuned, dear reader, and all will be well! R+R!

Toodles! (dude…too many exclamation marks… *_* ) 


	2. Getting in Touch with your Inner Sleaze....

This isn't a dance; it's Hell with streamers.

Chapter two: Getting in touch with your Inner Sleaze…

Umm yeah…next chapter…umm not much to say really, you'll just have to read it! Anywho, you know the drill, I don't own nuthin' so no suing!! And please r & r! I'd really appreciate it! k? thanks muchly! ^ - ^

-------------------

Sakura's P.O.V. 

Many strange things happen in my life, many experiences that defy all logic, that are so damn _unusual_ that they should only belong in the imagination of a writer, never go any further than the pages of a book. But no…for me…_This_ is my reality. 

I'd gotten used to it, more or less. Gotten used to flying around on a stick with wings, wearing strange, outrageous costumes, and having practically every moment of my life video taped by my best friend. I live with a hyperactive, pudding obsessed stuffed animal/guardian beast. I chase magic-ed pieces of paper around in my spare time. 

But _this_…_this_ just takes the cake. 

Never, not even in my wildest dreams would I _ever_ have expected to have a guy, down on one knee, recite romantic poetry to me. Sure, I've had some pretty freaky dreams, but this was just never of them… 

It was like something out of a really cheesy romantic movie, which coincidentally, was what we happened to be watching at the time when this all started. Well, by we I mean Madison, Kalla, Mei Lin and myself. Ike had fallen asleep 5 minutes into the movie and was currently snoring lightly on the couch. And I hadn't seen Li blink for at least 10 minutes, so either he _really_ enjoys romances, or he'd perfected the art of sleeping with his eyes open. Kero had long since deserted us for food and was somewhere in Madison's vast room gorging himself on sweets. 

It was about halfway through the movie when I felt a flickering of magic, a second before the movie just froze. 

"What the heck?" Kalla started to press buttons on the remote, but the screen still remained still. Muttering to herself, she continued her assault on the device. 

Madison plucked the remote out of Kalla's hand. "Kalla, I think we've established that pressing buttons repeatedly doesn't work." 

Kalla pouted, then crossed her arms. "So, makes me feel better."

Mei Lin rolled her eyes and went up to the screen and tapped it. "What do you think is wrong with it?"

"I dunno, but I felt something before it froze…"

"Felt something? As in a magical something?" I nodded as Kalla frowned then went over to Ike to wake him up. "hey Ike…wake up, we've got a problem here…" He curled up more into his seat and mumbled "mmm but I don't want to eat the fluffy bunnies…" Kalla shook her head then leaned over. "**_WAKE UP!!_**" 

Thump!

Ike stood up from where he had gone flying of the chair, and scratched his head. "You know there are easier ways to wake people up." Kalla just smirked. 

Li _still_ hadn't even flinched. 

"Damn, he's a pretty deep sleeper…what the _hell_ is that?" Mei Lin was staring at the TV. 

The screen was rippling. 

As we watched, stunned, the rippling started to band together to form a 3-dimensional shape. The shape continued to grow, then separated from the screen completely. 

We all blinked. 

It giggled. 

"Hey guys, I sense a Clow car…" Kero, whom had just flown into the room, paused and stared. "Who's the winged kid?"

Ike was the first to get his speaking skills back. "Umm, it appears to be…err…cupid…"

The winged baby giggled again, then before any of us could react, it notched an arrow, which had a red, heart shaped tip, fired, then disappeared in a swirl of little pink hearts. The arrow hit Li right in the arm. "Li!" He didn't move, still staring into space. 

Kero sounded hopeful "Do you think the kid's dead."

"Kero!"

I leaned over Li's prone form to get a better look at the arrow, but it, like 'cupid' just disappeared in a swirl of hearts. Muttering more to myself then anyone else, I tentatively touched the place where the arrow had been. "It didn't even leave a scratch…"

"What do you mean Sakura?" Madison, along with everyone else, was standing behind me, looking concerned. 

"The arrow, it hit Li right in the arm, but it didn't even bruise him…"

I heard a moan, then turned back to Li, who had finally closed his eyes. "Li…are you okay?" 

His eyes slowly opened. He looked confused at first, but then his eyes met mine, and they softened. "Be still my beating heart."

I blanched. "Huh?"

Li sat up, grasping my hand in the process. "Forgive me for startling you, but it was you who startled me."

{AN: yeah yeah, I know that's from Shrek, but I just couldn't resist!} He reached up and brushed a strand of hair off my face. "You must be an angel, as a beauty as radiant as yours can only come from heaven…"

"uhh…" I was blushing so hard that I was practically indistinguishable from the fire-engine-red top that I was wearing. "umm are you feeling alright Li." He smiled crookedly at me, which made my knees go weak. I was _this_ close to fainting. 

Then kissed my hand. And this time, I _did _faint. 

"When do you think she'll wake up?" I was slowly regaining consciousness as voices drifted from above me. 

"I'm not sure. Not that I blame her, getting hit on by the kid must be pretty traumatic."

*Kero?* 

"Kero! Don't be mean." That sounded like Kalla. "How long do you reckon she's going to be out for?"

I would have opened my eyes at that point, but it was then that I felt a hand softly brush my forehead, and a warm voice reply. "Only the kiss of a noble such as myself, will awaken her…"

*oh my God…oh my _God_…no way, he is _not_ serious.*

"Hey that's a good idea Li! Just like in Sleeping Beauty! Hang on let me get my camera…"

__

Madison?! * As much as I wanted this to happen, I couldn't. As far as I could tell Li didn't like me in _that _way_. _We were friends and that was it. Whenever we managed to get out whatever had possessed Li, he probably wouldn't be too happy to see this little scenario. So I opened my eyes. Li's face swam into view, _very_ close to my face. 

*oh my _God*_

He paused then backed up a bit when he realized I was awake.

__

*…damn…NO! this is a good thing!* 

Still blushing, I glanced up at the group of people gathered around the couch I was laying on. Madison, who was clutching her camera, looked disappointed. I tentatively waved. "Err hi"

So basically that was were it started. In the following hour, I had been referred to, by Li, as 'princess', 'angel', 'precious', 'dove'…even '_smoopy bear._' I had Kalla to thank for that one. She had been encouraging him, giving him 'hints' of what I liked to hear. 

* I am going to _hurt_ her when this is done. *

"Hey Li, you know what else she likes…romantic poetry!!" 

* No scratch that, I think I'm going to _kill_ her damnit…*

Li grinned again, then produced a scroll out of thin air, and got down on one knee in front of me. He cleared his throat. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate…" 

I could have died of embarrassment. I heard Kalla's voice in my mind, she was using telepathy, as Li continued. 

* _well well well, Quite the Romeo don't you think. I never knew he had it in him…_*

*_Kalla! He **doesn't** have it in him_…_what he has in him, is some damn Clow card. He's possessed!*_

*Yeah…so what's your point?*

*ugghh! My point is, stop taking advantage of him! He's being controlled!*

*Oh come on Sakura, how many opportunities like this come around. I say have fun with Mr. Romantic here and **then** try to get rid of the card…*

*Kalla…*

Kalla let out an exasperated sigh, then answered out loud. "Okay okay…so what do you suppose we need to do?" 

I shook my head unsure. Li was still going. "But thy eternal summer shall not fade…"

Kero crossed his arms in front of him and looked thoughtful. "I dunno, maybe you _do_ have to kiss him to break the spell."

"WHAT?! Kero since when do _you_ want me to do something like that?"

"Look, the kids' making me nauseous with all this romantic crap, I'm willing to try anything just to shut him up…" He sighed. "Besides, from what Madison told me about you two, I suppose I really don't have any say…" he paused and scowled, "not that I'm very happy about it mind you…"

"Excuse me?"

*Did I _miss _something??*

Madison was looking uncomfortable. 

* oh no…she _ didn't…_* 

My eye started to twitch again as I eyed Madison, then said through gritted teeth. "Madison…what did you tell him." She sweat-dropped, looking more than a little scared. "Oh ^cough^ you know…"

I glared at her. "enlighten me" 

"uh errr…hey look the cupid thing is back!" 

"nice try Madison…"

"No really." She pointed. "Look see, it's back." 'Cupid' smiled and waved a chubby little hand at me. 

I summoned the wand "Right…"then wielded it like a baseball bat. 'Cupid' smirked then shot off around the room, I was right on it's tail. "Stand _still_ damnit." I swung at it with my wand, missing it by inches. Everyone had to dive out of the way as 'cupid' and I shot past. "Change him _back_ you stupid chubby demon!" 'Cupid' screeched to a halt, then spun around slowly. 

"aaa, I don't think you should have insulted it Sakura…I think you pissed it off…" 

'Cupid' glared, then it's chubby little face split into an evil grin. And that _really_ freaked me out. A face initially that cute shouldn't be able to grin like that. 

It pulled out another arrow. "oh no you don't." I leapt forward, but it darted out of the way, and headed straight for Li. 

"No! Stay away from him!" I didn't even have a chance to reach for a card, as 'cupid' swung the arrow, and smacked Li upside the head with it, then vanished. I had a gut feeling that it wouldn't be back. 

"Damn" I shrank my wand then stepped cautiously aver to Li, as everyone else picked themselves up off the ground. 

"umm are you back Li?" The scroll he had been reading from disappeared as he blinked. 

Slowly.

His head dropped, and he looked down at himself. 

"AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!" Bolting up he dived into Madison's massive closet. 

"Umm I take it he's _not_ back to normal…" I paused, then knocked on the door. "Uh Li, are you alright in there?" 

"…" He didn't answer, all I could hear was shuffling. 

I waved everyone over. 

"…You don't think he's going drag queen do you?" I shot Ike a look. He just shrugged innocently. "What? I'm just making an assumption, I mean he ran into a closet full of girls clothes…" 

Madison smirked. "Well actually, there are some battle costumes for Li in there that I made for him if he ever wanted them…" 

*uh boy…*

The shuffling stopped, and the handle turned as we all jumped back. 

My mouth dropped open. Kalla and Mei Lin snorted, trying not to laugh. "Nice costume Madison…"

Madison looked confused "I never made _that_…" 

Ike raised an eyebrow. "Okay then, I _don't_ want to know where he got the leather pants…"

Li smirked then leaned up against the door. "heyyy, how _you_ dooooin'…" Then did the gun-finger thing and made that funny clicking noise in the corner of his mouth. 

"ummm."

Kero tilted his head "Since when does the kid comb his hair?"

Ike raised his other eyebrow. "Since when does the kid gel his hair..." 

Li raised his eyebrows suggestively at me. "heyyy…^ click-click ^ "

I was speechless, for a number of reasons. 

1: Li's hair was not only brushed, but gelled back as well. 

2: Li was wearing black leather pants and a black leather jacket, and a _tight_ white tank top. 

3: Li had a look on his face that was just…well…_sleazy_.

He sidled up to me. "Hey their sweet cakes, I seem to have lost my number…can I have yours?"

All I could say was "umm". 

Everyone else practically wet themselves laughing.

Li tilted his head and grinned, trying again "Is it hot in here, or is it just you?"

"err" 

Kalla was laughing so much that she actually had to leave the room. Madison almost dropped her camera.

Li smirked then kissed my hand. Unlike before, I didn't feel like fainting, I felt like slapping him in the face. It just felt so _sleazy _this time. 

I jerked my hand out of his grasp, then glanced at my so-called friends "umm a little help?" 

Madison took pity on me, a pulled on Li's shoulder. "C'mon Li, I think you're scaring Sakura…"

Li feigned worry, then ran his index finger down the side of my face. "Hey I'm sorry…want me to kiss you to make it better?" 

I have never _ever_ blushed so hard in my life.

Madison looked like she was going to laugh again, but managed to calm herself, and drag Li back. "come _on_ Li."

He turned to her. "Hey anything for you doll face."

Madison sweat dropped. "uhh save it for Sakura okay?" 

"Madison!"

She pushed Li out of the room, after telling him something as Kalla walked back in, still giggling and wiping a tear from her eye. 

"That was, like, funniest thing I have _ever _seen."

I flopped down on the couch, and buried my face in my hands. I could still feel the sensation of his hand touching my face. Which really wasn't helping me or my furiously blushing face. "^ groan ^ why does this always happen to me…"

Madison plonked down on the couch next to me and patted me on the back. "Coz you're special that's why!"

Kero fluttered over and landed on Madison's shoulder. "What did you tell him to get rid of him?"

She waved her hand around in the air, "oh I just told him there was some more hair gel in the downstairs bathroom."

Kero smirked. "Good idea" He looked thoughtful for a second, then continued "The Clow card has gone too, but it's err…_effects_ won't wear off for a few hours at least."

"That was a Clow card?" Kero nodded, then Mei Lin continued. "Do you know which one it is?"

"I'm not positive, but I think it's the Cliché Card…"

"The Cliché card? What kind of messed up card is that?"

"I don't know much about it " He frowned. "I always thought it was just a rumor…but obviously not…"

"So all it does is mess with people's heads and make them do stuff they wouldn't normally do?"

Kalla quipped, in a dry tone. "Or in Li's case, make you get in touch with your inner sleaze or hopeless romantic…"

Kero shook his head. "No, there's more to it than that, we've only seen a bit of its full power."

* oh _goody _* 

Kalla jerked her head towards the door. "So what do you suppose we do with sleaze boy out there?"

"We'll just have to put up with him until the card wears off."

"Great…"

Kalla grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the room, closely followed by everyone else. "C'mon I bet Li has a whole stack of pick-up lines he wants to try out on you!"

"greeaattt…"

On the way down, we bumped into one of the maids. She looked a bit frazzled. Madison paused. "Are you okay?"

The maid, still staring into space, shuffled around in her apron and held out a piece of paper. "That boy…he just gave me his number…" 

"…Where is he now?"

The maid still didn't exactly look with it, and waved a hand at the door, "um he just left…" She shook her head, "Is there anything you need Miss Taylor?"

"um no thanks, we've gotta go."

We all ran outside, then stopped just outside the gate. 

I scanned the area, but didn't see him anywhere. "Were do you think he went?" 

"Dunno, but we better split up and look." Kalla pointed off to the left. "You, Madison and Mei Lin look over there, and we'll look this way. Meet back here in an hour." We nodded, then Ike, Kalla and Kero went off and disappeared around the corner. 

We hadn't gone far when we heard giggling. 

"What the…"

"Shhhhh! Mei Lin clapped a hand over my mouth, then hissed. "Listen!"

All I could hear was the giggling, then a very smug voice say "Heeyyyy I'm known as the professor of Love, and schools in session…"

*Li?!*

We edged around the corner. Yep, it was Li alright. He was surrounded by a group of girls, probably a few years older than we were, and all of them were giggling girlishly among themselves. 

"uh boy…"

"Looks like you have some competition Sakura…"

"And what's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Mei Lin just smirked.

----------

It was late afternoon and I was walking home again, Kero was sitting in my bag. We had finally managed to get Li back to Madison's, but it wasn't until one and a-half-hours later that he was finally back to his usual self. In that time I'd heard practically every pick up line in the book. I somehow managed to convince Madison not to show him the tape…I doubt that Li would have found it as funny as everyone else did. He totally freaked out when he saw what he was wearing, so I can only imagine what would have happened if he had seen what he'd actually done or said, as the case was. The rest of the afternoon was spent being measured for whatever it was Madison was designing for the Halloween dance. She still wouldn't tell me. Everyone else, besides Li and myself, knew, I couldn't help but feel a bit put out. 

"Please kero, you can tell me…"

"Nope, sorry Sakura, I promised Madison…"

"But…but…I'll make you a cake if you tell…"

"Sorry, I made Madison a promise, besides, she's making me 3 cakes and giving me a tub of ice cream. Don't worry about it Sakura, you'll look great, and it's only a couple of days until Halloween, you'll just have to be patient." 

-----------

****

Halloween: Early afternoon

The last few days had been uneventful, I hadn't sensed the card at all, which I suppose was a good thing considering what happened _last_ time it showed up. I had a bad feeling that it would show up tonight. 

"So, what do you think it will do?"

Kero shrugged, "I'm not quite sure…but I'm almost positive it will show up tonight. From what I heard, it loves events like this…"

I was trudging up to Madison's doorway when our quiet conversation was interrupted by a high pitched squeal. 

"Sakura, Kero! You made it!" I didn't even have a chance to answer as a _very_ excited Madison grabbed my hand and dragged us inside. Kero fluttered off of my shoulder and into the lounge room, where I caught a glimpse of Li and Ike, before I was dragged upstairs into Madison's room. Mei Lin and Kalla both looked up from the boxes they were searching through and smiled. "Hey Sakura, it's about time you got here!"

I glanced around Madison's room, hoping to finally see my costume. No such luck. " uhh hey guys…sorry I'm late, but Kero didn't want to go until he finished his game…why did I have to get here so early anyway, the thing doesn't open for another 2 hours…"

Madison smiled, "coz we need 2 hours to get ready silly!"

"oh…so…what are you guys going as?"

Kalla grinned evilly, picked up a black pitchfork and twirled it around. "Well, _I'm_ going as Satan…"

I tried to hide a grin and replied "…Makes sense". 

She stuck out her tongue. "Oh hush you…Mei Lin is going as an Egyptian Pharaoh Goddess-lady, and Madison is going as a hippie."

"What about me? And please tell me you didn't make me a costume that's going to match with Li's, I don't think he'll be too happy about that…"

Madison shook her head. "Don't worry Sakura, we decided to use some other ways to get you two together…"

"**_WHAT! _**Don't you people ever **rest,** he doesn't like me okay?!" 

She smiled innocently then said, "Calm down Sakura, I was just _joking_…" 

"oh…yeah…and hell is just a _sauna_…"

Kalla chuckled then chucked me a pile of white clothing, "Here, go put this one" 

I picked up the top article of clothing, it was a tank top, "umm what's this for?"

"Well…your costume is kinda see-through," she smirked, then continued, "so unless you want to flash people your underwear, I strongly suggest you put that on…"

"…oh" Blushing, I went into Madison's closet to get changed. Apart from the white tank top all I had to put on was a shortish white skirt. Thousands of possibilities of what I was getting myself into whizzed through my head as I stepped out. Kalla, who was lacing up a pair of black knee high boots, looked up and said, "oh good, Madison will help you get into the rest of it."

I blanched. * What the hell kind of costume needs assistance?! * 

Madison dragged me over, and finally my costume for the night was revealed.

"…" Blink Blink "…err…"

Madison, ever the enthusiastic one, clapped her hands together, "isn't it great!?" 

"…it's…it's…_puffy"_

"of course it's puffy silly, you are going as a fairy after all, haven't you ever seen A midsummer night's dream, I got some ideas from it for your costume…" {AN: A Jigglypuff appears and pipes up that annoyingly high pitched voice '_again_ with the references to A Midsummer night's dream? What is with you and that movie?!, Stardragon shoots glares, 'hey buddy, it happens to be easier than saying 'and the left sleeve is sort of purple in color and sticks up in a puffy fashion, then, by using extensive use of hand sewing and beading jewels and such are joined to create a sparkly effect…' this way I can just say, 'look just imagine one of the things the worker fairy people-whatever they're called-were wearing…I think one of the fairies was called 'mustard seed', so just imagine _that_ costume but more pinky purple…stupid pinky balloon thing…' picks up laser sword thing from super smash brothers and blasts the puffball into the next dimension…there much better…^ _ ^…sorry too much sugar and too many videos games…not good for mental health…} 

"Greaaattt…" The dress thing was a perfect fit, and hugged my waist, but flared out in the skirt part, and of course on the sleeves. Small jewel like beads glittered at me from the various places that they had been sewn into the costume. Madison adjusted the transparent wings then spun me around. "There, wow Sakura, you look great!"

Mei Lin grinned then giggled, "ooh Li is just going to _die_ when he sees you!"

"_WOULD YOU GIVE IT A **REST** ALREADY!"_

She sweat dropped, then hastily replied, "_kidding_, I was kidding…heh heh heh…" she glanced at the clock, "ooh, we better hurry and get changed too…" I was left alone as the three girls went off to get changed. Slightly bored I sneaked a peak in one of the boxes that Kalla and Mei Lin had been looking through when I had come in. 

It was full of face paint. *what the…face paint??* 

I heard someone coming, so I closed the box and sat down. Mei Lin came out first. She was wearing a white and gold Egyptian style dress. Her hair was out and her head was adorned with a gold circlet that had a cobra in the centre of it. A gold snake band wrapped around her upper arm. Kalla came next and was wearing a black tank top and black pants, which had red flames sewn into the bottom of the legs. Over that was a long red coat, this time with orange and yellow flames at the bottom. She even had little black bat wings attached to the back, which looked suspiciously like the ones from the costume I wore when I caught the Silent card. Then came Madison, who was wearing bell-bottom jeans, which had big flowers sewn onto them, a tie-dyed T-shirt, and a headband, with the peace sign in the centre of it. The whole outfit was completed with tinted sunglasses, Madison even had a bunch of fake flowers stuck in her belt loops. 

Kalla spun around, her coat flaring out around her. "So what do you think?" 

"You guys look great!" I glanced at the clock again, "so what are we going to do now? We've still got a whole hour…"

Kalla smiled and pulled me over to the mirror and sat me down on the chair in front of it. "Oh we're aren't finished yet, _now_ it's time for _my_ area of expertise…"

My stomach sank. "Expertise? What do you mean expertise?"

She looked slightly offended, "Why Sakura, do I detect a hint of mistrust in your voice?"

"…No, that's a hint of fear…"

She stuck her tongue out at me again. "hmmpf…big meany…"

I cautiously eyed her as she shuffled around in the case. "…what are you going to do?"

"well, as soon as I find what I'm looking for, I'm going to make you look like a _real_ fairy…"

"why do I suddenly feel very _very _scared_?!_" 

"Hey don't worry you'll look great…hey can you pass me that box over there?" She pointed to my left.

There was 3 boxes to choose from, "Which one?"

"…umm, try the one labeled 'assorted people's bits'…"

"_excuse me?! What do you mean by assorted people's bits!!?_"

"Calm down, it's just rubber ears, fake eye balls…they're not real…" She shuffled through the box, and produced a pair of pointy ears, then exclaimed "ahh, there they are!"

"okay…but what do they have to do with me?"

"Well you can't be a real fairy without pointy ears…now were did I put that tube of skin colored face paint…"

"_WHAT!!? What do you **mean** face paint!?" _I shot up out of the chair and started to back away, "no one said _anything _about _face paint…"_ I frantically looked around…*I'm getting out of here damnit…* I spied the door and bolted for it. 

Mei Lin's eyes widened, "She's making a break for it! Don't let her get away!!"

Kalla, leapt up and over me, landing in front of the door, blocking my exit, "Sorry Sakura, but you can't get out yet…"

I screeched to a halt, then looked around. 

My eyes landed on the open window… 

---------- 

****

Li's POV:

There was another crash and a yell from upstairs. I couldn't take it anymore, I needed to know what was going on. Besides I was getting bored waiting, and we weren't allowed to get changed yet, for some reason…Kalla's order. Not that I really wanted to, sure I could just be getting paranoid, but on the concept that I was getting a costume made for me by Madison, I just couldn't get the image of overly puffy sleeves out of my mind… 

Ike and Kero were in the middle of a video game and didn't notice me leave. I had just reached Madison's door when someone yelled out "_WHAT!? What do you **mean** face paint!?_", then what sounded like a chair falling over, followed by "no one said _anything _about _face paint…"_

I paused for a second, trying to hear what was going on. "She's making a break for it! Don't let her get away!!" That sounded like Mei Lin. 

* what's going on in there!?*****

There was some more mumbling, they were talking to quietly now for me to hear what they were saying. Thinking that maybe things had calmed down a bit, I knocked on the door.

There was a pause, someone swore, then said"…uh hang on…" There was another pause, then the door opened about a foot, and Kalla's head poked out. "oh, hey Li, um what's up?"

I tried to look in, but she kept blocking my view. "um is everything okay in there?"

She jerked forward, as if someone was trying to push her, and she sweat-dropped, "umm yeah, everything's all fine and dandy…" 

Somehow I wasn't convinced. 

"huh? Is that Li?…Li! Li! _GET ME OUT OF HERE DAMNIT_!!"

Kalla sweat dropped again, "umm could you excuse me for a second?" The door slammed shut in my face. "Madison! Close the window before she jumps!… mumble mumble…Sakura! If you don't sit still I'll make you look like a _clown_…don't push me _damnit_…I've got red…mumble mumble…you'll look like Ronald McDonald!! Mumble mumble…" 

CRASH!!

The door opened slightly again, and a frazzled looking Kalla poked her head out again. "Don't mind all the crashes and yelling Li, I'll be down in a minute to help you guys with you're costumes, Okay bye then!" With that she slammed the door in my face again. I shook my head and made my way down stairs. 

---------

****

Sakura's POV 

Madison, Mei Ling and Kalla stepped back to survey their work. Madison grinned from behind her camera, "Li is just going to _die_ when he sees you Sakura!"

Kalla scratched her chin thoughtfully, "well actually he'd probably blush, stutter then run away…but anyway…" 

"…could you _please_ just give it a rest…" 

I felt like a piece of canvas. I now sported a pair of rubber pointy ears_, _painted to match the color of my skin.But the insanity/torture didn't stop there. Next came the make-up. My eyelids had been coated in this shimmering eye shadow stuff, which was the same color as my costume. My lips matched too, as they were now covered in shimmering lip-gloss. The rest of my face was covered in faint glitter, 'Not too much to make me look like a disco ball, but just enough to make my face shimmer in the right light' as Kalla had put it. I suppose it looked okay, I even looked a few years older, but I still didn't want to leave the room. They practically had to tie me to a chair, but as Kalla had threatened to make me look like a clown, so I settled down and waited while she fixed up everyone her and everyone else's make-up. She finished sticking the fake devil horns to her forehead, then straightened. "Right, that's the make-up done, Mei Lin and I are going down stairs to get the guys ready. " She stooped down and picked up her pitchfork. "We'll meet you two downstairs okay!" With that, they left. 

I eyed Madison. "Why did we have to stay?"

She smiled, then stood behind me pulling my hair out of the hair ties. "Coz I still have to do your hair silly!" She ran the brush through my hair a few times, to pull out all the knots I had acquired when I had tried to make a break for it, then reached into a draw, and pulled out a wreath of cherry blossoms.

"wow…that's beautiful Madison…"

She grinned and placed it on my head. "It is isn't it?! Kalla helped me make it this morning, and she put a spell on it so that the flowers wouldn't wilt." 

"You guys sure do put a lot of effort into your work don't you?" I paused as she fixed it to my head with hairpins. "I feel a bit over dressed…"

Madison stood back to survey her work. "Of course not! We're going to a Halloween party Sakura, the whole point _is_ to be over dressed." She picked up my hand, and slipped on her tinted sunglasses, "C'mon Sakura, let's go…" 

Before I could protest again, I was literally pushed out the door and down the stairs, * I seem to get pushed around a lot…*, then into the room where the guys were waiting. 

__

* …damn… *

Li looked _good_…no better than good…he looked _damn good_…Kalla and Mei Lin had somehow managed to wrestle him into a costume that was designed to make him look like Neo from The Matrix. He costume consisted of a black shirt, black pants, long black coat, black steel tipped boots, and the sunglasses. I think he was kinda embarrassed or mad or something though, because he had this weird look on his face when I walked in, and he was blushing bright red.

Kalla grinned, then clapped her hands together, "well if you two have finished ogling each other, I think we should get going." 

I didn't think his face could have gotten any more red, but it did, as he, pretty much at the same time as I did, yelled out, "_WE'RE NOT OGLING EACH OTHER!!!_"

Ike chuckled, then picked up his fake scythe, he was going as Death, (his costume was basically a black hooded cloak, and white and black face paint to make him look skeletal.) "Oh stop teasing them Kalla…c'mon let's get going." 

Kero popped out from his hiding place under Ike's hood, "yeah, I want some Halloween candy!!"

And with that we were on our way. Little did we know what was waiting for us later that night…

--------------

DUN DUN DUUUUUUNNNNNNN…

^cough^ yes anyway, finally got around to finishing the chapter…Umm, I'm not gonna give much away for the next chapter, but lets just say that Sakura and Li have fun with a Karaoke machine…he he he anywho…PLEASE REVIEW!!!! I NEED REVIEWS!! I NEED FEEEEEEDDDBBAACCCKKKK….^sniff sniff^…nobody likes me…^sniff^ I'm just gonna go eat worms…^sniff^…okay I'm done! Ta-TA ^ - ^ 

__


	3. Kiss De Girl

****

This Isn't a Dance; it's Hell With Streamers

Chapter Three: Kiss De Girl…

I was going to do something else for this chapter, to do with karaoke (as I mentioned in the after-note of the last chapter) but I got a better idea and well…you'll just have to read and see. (evil grin } )

Anywho, you know the drill, I don't own nuthin', yadda yadda yadda…

* Thoughts * 
    
    * _Telepathic communication *
    _"Speaking" (duh)

------------

****

Sakura's POV:

I _should_ have been worried about the Clow Card. 

__

Should have been concentrating on sensing where it was, so that I would be prepared for when it eventually struck. 

But all I could concentrate on was how _damn_ fine Li looked in that 'Neo' costume. 

Of course this left me _wide_ open for teasing.

*_ooh la la Sakura! Admit it, you want him, you need him…oh baby oh baby_…*

I really need to learn how to block telepathy.

*_Why can't you just leave me alone?_*

We were walking to the Halloween Fair {AN: Pretty damn boring name, but my sugar high hasn't kicked in yet, so that'll have to do…},and I had been staring at my feet for most of it, except for the moments when I would catch a glance at Li, he was walking next to me; as was Madison. It was all kinda lame, like something from a movie, I would be looking at him, he would turn his head towards me, I would turn away, so he couldn't see me staring. Lame, but I just couldn't help myself. For once, Kalla's telepathic intrusion was actually helpful, despite how annoying she was when she used it. At least it kept me occupied enough so I didn't look like a lovesick puppy, eyeing off Li all the time.

*_Sakura, you've been staring at him ever since we left the house… you can tell me, we're friends…c'mon…_* she altered her voice so that it sounded like 'Fat Bastard' from 'Austin Powers' *_you warnt his sex-ee bor-deee_* 

I blushed bright red, which must have looked strange, as to anyone else my face would have suddenly gone bright red for apparently no reason.

*_WHY CAN'T YOU JUST DROP IT?! Nothing, I repeat **nothing **is or ever will happen between us, **we're just friends**_ *

*_Why? Is his body too booty-licious for you?_*

__

*Kalla** please***

She mentally chuckled softly but agreed none the less to leave me alone. 

For now anyway.

"…Are you okay Sakura?" Madison, for once not behind her camera, was looking concerned. "You're face is kinda red, you're not feeling sick are you?"

I smiled at her reassuringly before answering, "I'm fine Madison." She looked at me warily and said "Well okay, if you're sure…"

We were all walking in silence for a while when… 

'jinglejinglejingle'

Ike slowed down in front of us, then spun around, "Did anyone else hear that?"

'jinglejinglejingle'

Li, who hadn't said anything for the whole walk, spoke up "yeeaahhh…you mean the jingling noise right?" At Ike's nod, Li frowned. "It's not magical, so I don't think it's a Clow card…"

'jinglejinglejingle'

Mei Lin clamped onto Li's arm, something she hadn't done since her 'Li obsession' period, * old habits die hard I suppose *, "I-I-it's getting closer…"

Li shook his arm to dislodge her grip, "Let go of me Mei Lin…"

The jingling got louder.

'jinglejinglejingle**_CRASH'_**

We all sweatdropped, as a miffed looking witch, dragging an unconcious jester, a ghost, and a medieval princess turned the corner. 

The ghost smiled at us and said. "hey guys!! Wow you all look _great_!"

I gave the jester, who was just starting to come to, a rueful look, "he's been telling lies again hasn't he?"

Chelsea, the witch, sighed then replied "yeah, but at least this broom comes in handy" The broom in question looked like it had seen better days. The straw was sticking out at all angles, half of which seemed to be stuck to Zachary the jesters' costume. Rita, the medieval princess shook her head, as Nikki, the ghost, sighed and said, "you'd think he'd learn after she knocked him out the last time…"

Zachary finally regained consciousness, stood up and grinned, "hey everyone, cool costumes…did you know the first costume…" I eyed Chelsea. She was holding the broom handle so tight that her knuckles were going white. Zachary, getting into character, started to bounce around, as he continued his story "and that each year 'jinglejinglejingle' the evil spirits dressed as pink rabbits," 'jinglejinglejingle' "…took candy instead of children to eat…", 'jinglejinglejingle'…

"grrrrr…ZACHARY!!!" **_WHAM!!_**

The once again unconscious Zachary slumped to the ground. Chelsea grabbed him by the back of his costume, and started to drag him on. She paused and frowned at our stunned looks. "_what_? He was being annoying!"

Ike blinked, then shrugged "Right-o then" and we were once again on our way. 

I really had to admit, despite all the fake cobwebs, ghosts, spiders etc. etc. the place _did _look good. Everything was covered in the Halloween theme decorations, from the Ferris wheel, to the huge area set up for the dance floor. And _then_ there were the 'haunted houses'. 

__

Lots of 'haunted houses'. 

Nikki was practically bouncing with excitement. "ooh I want to go on the haunted house rides can we go please please please?!" Ike eyed my slightly frightened look, and replied, "why don't you guys go have a look at some of the rides, we're going to get something to eat first k?" Everyone seemed happy enough with that decision, so Nikki, Rita, Chelsea and the momentarily conscious Zachary, went off to try out the various attractions. 

"Thanks Ike, you're a life saver."

"Hey no problemo." 

We were walking over to the food area when someone bumped into me. 

"oh I am _soo,_ like, sorry for bumping into you" It was a girl, about Kalla's age, dressed as Barbie. 

"umm that's okay, it was just an accident…" 

I wasn't sure, but there was something kinda…_strange_ about the girl. 

"So like anyway I'm _really _sorry" and with that she stepped back, and disappeared into a crowd of costumed people.

Li eyed me from behind his dark specs, "Did any of that seem kinda weird to you?"

Briefly blushing from Li's gaze, I nodded, then muttered in a voice that only my friends could hear, "yeah, almost as if she had magic or something…" 

Kalla was gazing off in the direction that 'Barbie' had departed and said distractedly "…we better keep an eye out for her…there's defiantly something up about her" she snapped out of her trance and grinned at us, "but for now, let's get some grub and sit down k?!"

A mumbled, but still very audible voice called out from somewhere in Ike's hood, "yeah I want food! Gimme Halloween candy!" earning more than a few strange looks from the people nearby. 

After getting our food, most of which was a very attractive Halloween theme orange and black color, we sat down at one of the many tables surrounding the dance floor. Apart from a few more strange looks from people watching, as Ike stuffed food into his hood, (which, more often than not made chewing noises and sighed, a few seconds later) everything pretty much went normally. 

Until Kalla suggested we should all get up and dance, or as she had put it 'go up and shake our groove thang'.

I suppose she was just staying in character, dressed as Satan and all…

It's not that I don't really like dancing. It's just that I couldn't quite ignore the look she had on her face, as if to say 'I'm up to something and you ain't gonna know about it till it's too late…heh heh heh', and the wink which she sent to Ike. Madison was pretty much ecstatic at the idea and had already made her way out onto the floor, Mei Lin in tow, and video camera on standby. 

*Public humiliation, here I come…*

Kalla tried to smile innocently, which clashed terribly with the whole theme of her costume and grabbed my hand, at the same time sending me a mind message. *_c'mon Sakura, ready to bust-a-move?_*

*_not particularly…_*

She eyed me suspiciously, *_give me one good reason why…_*

I paused trying to think up any excuse to just sit back down, then said out loud "err I can't dance?" It came out sounding more like a question than an answer. She just raised an eyebrow then smiled, "look, all you have to do is listen to the beat, then shake your ass around accordingly…"

"um would you believe it's against my religion to dance in public places."

She raised an eyebrow again, as if to say, 'oh _really_"

"err err err, I'm ahh-allergic to dancing…yeah that's it, causes a terrible rash I'm afraid, such a shame too…eh heh heh"

She shook her head. "Man you are _really_ scraping the bottom of the excuse barrel with _that_ one…"

Then, just when I thought that there couldn't possibly be anyone more evil than Kalla, the DJ announced, "Okay everyone time for a _SNOWBALL_!!" {AN: For those of you that have no clue what that is, (and I dunno, it might be called something else where you're from, or I'm just wasting my time, but whatever), a snowball is a couple's dance. Guys and girls separate and go to opposite sides of the room (all guys one side, all girls the next…duh). You start out with a couple of-err- couples (mostly requests), and they dance around for a bit (To soppy romantic _lurve_ songs of course) until the announcer dude calls out 'snowball.' Said couples split and go off to choose another partner of the opposite gender from the group on the side of the room, and then they dance around and what-not, then announcer dude goes 'snowball'…etc. etc. and basically the amount of people dancing on the floor 'snowballs'. Got it? yeah well you probably already knew that, but at least _now_ my story looks longer and makes it seem that I can actually write…anywho, back to the point.} 

I froze, as the guys and girls separated to opposite sides of the floor. A slow song started as the DJ said, "Okay, any couples out there willing to go first, come on downnn…"

I cautiously stepped back out of sight, trying to hide form Kalla, expecting her to try something, but she just turned towards where Ike and Li was sitting and looked expectant. Ike grinned, then got up, as Kero fluttered out and hid under a pile of food. 

As I glanced down to find my seat again, I missed the look the Kalla and Ike gave Li. 

--------- 

****

Li's POV:

I was glad about one thing from my costume…the glasses hid from everyone else where my eyes were looking. I knew Sakura was looking at me. She just didn't know I had been looking at her as well. She looked positively angelic, despite the fact that she was dressed as a fairy. But had I always thought that, regardless of what she wore. {AN: Hits small gong rhythmically, (Monty Python and the Holy Grail style) **DONG** …BRING OUT THE SAP…**DONG**…BRING OUT THE SAP…**DONG**….ooh the sugar is finally starting to kick in…maybe I shouldn't have ate a whole bag of jelly babies…* - *}. Unfortunately for me, it was getting dark, and I was finding it increasing hard to see anything, so I had to take them off. Right before the DJ announced that there was going to be a snowball, and Sakura came and sat back done in front of me. 

Damn.

I'm not a pervert or anything, I don't just sit and stare at people, but I just couldn't help it. It was like some weird gravitational pull or something. I just couldn't keep my eyes off of her. Which confused, delighted, and annoyed me to no end. I usually wasn't this bad. Little did I know, worrying about being caught staring would be the least of my problems. 

Not many people know this, but under Ike's mature, responsible and mostly quite exterior, was the mind of a completely different, more evil person…i.e. Kalla. Probably comes from living with her all his life, her personality rubbed off on him. Kalla and Ike where one of the few couples that had ventured out onto the floor when the DJ made the announcement. That, of course, was about to change, whether I liked it to or not.

A voice, sounding very much like Sebastion the crab from 'The Little Mermaid' started to sing in my mind.
    
    'There you see her
    Sitting there across the way
    She don't got a lot to say
    But there's something about her
    And you don't know why
    But you're dying to try
    You wanna kiss the girl'
    I shot him one of my patented death glares, which technically should have reduced the dance floor into a smoking crater, or at least, just the area on which _they_ were dancing. Unfortunately, that sort of thing just didn't happen, and _they_ just ignored me, kept on dancing and telepathically singing at me.
    'Yes, you want her
    Look at her, you know you do
    Possible she wants you too
    There is one way to ask her
    It don't take a word
    Not a single word
    Go on and kiss de girl'
    It must have looked pretty damn strange to anyone who was watching, as suddenly, for no apparent reason, my face went bright red. They split apart when the DJ called out snowball. Kalla grinned evilly and came towards me. Ike, ever the 'nice guy' in appearance, bowed to Sakura and offered his hand. She looked a bit surprised, but giggled and took his hand as he led her onto the floor. Kalla, never really the one for panache, smirked, grabbed my hand, and practically dragged me on, swinging me around in a sad parody of a waltz. That didn't stop the singing though. Kalla's mental voice sang out the chorus.
    'Sha la la la la la
    My oh my
    Look like the boy too shy
    Ain't gonna kiss de girl
    Sha la la la la la
    Ain't dat sad?
    Ain't it a shame?
    Too bad, he gonna miss de girl'
    I wasn't stupid. Sure at times, I admit, I have been naïve, but not stupid. I knew what they were up to, even before the DJ once again announced 'snowball' and they left us standing, facing each other. Sakura was blushing prettily. My face was so red I could probably have been used as a flashlight. Someone, (give you three guesses who…) bumped into me, causing me to bump into Sakura. Trying to ignore the voices in my head, I stumbled over something to say. "uh-d-d-do you umm want to-err dance?" She blushed even more, but flashed me one of her hundred-watt-smiles, then shakily replied, "umm s-s-sure Li". She placed her hand in mine, as I slipped my other around her waist.
    'Now's your moment
    Floating in a blue lagoon
    Boy you better do it soon
    No time will be better
    She don't say a word
    And she won't say a word
    Until you kiss de girl'
    I was finding it harder and harder to concentrate, and ignore the singing when I was holding a virtual goddess in my arms. Especially when she was looking up into my eyes like that. This time Ike joined in with the chorus.
    'Sha la la la la la
    Don't be scared
    You got de mood prepared
    Go on and kiss de girl
    Sha la la la la la
    Don't stop now
    Don't try to hide it how
    You want to kiss de girl'
    I think the song was starting to get to me. Everything around us started to fade. Even the two signing voices in my head started to go quiet, although I think they where purposely doing that to make it seem more dramatic. But basically, all I could really concentrate on, was the girl I was holding, slowly swaying back and forth with, to a tune that I wasn't entirely sure I was listening to anymore. All I could concentrate on was Sakura.
    'Sha la la la la la
    Float along
    And listen to de song
    De song say kiss de girl'
    I hadn't really noticed, but I had been leaning slowly forward. Didn't notice until I became aware that she was leaning in too.
    'Sha la la la la
    De music play
    Do what de music say
    You got to kiss de girl'
    They got quieter, as we got closer.
    _'You've got to kiss de girl
    You wanna kiss de girl
    You've gotta kiss de girl
    Go on and kiss de girl'
    _
    So close…
    Yet _so_ far.
    I almost yelled out in complete exasperation when a burst of familiar Clow Card magic caused us both to jump back. 

-----------

MWAA HA HA HA HA HA! I AM EVIL…EEEEEVVIIILLLL! Hehehehe, Anyway that's it for this little chapter. I have to say, I'm kinda proud of it. : P More madness to come, the next chapter is going to be called 'Doin' it Karaoke Style'…'nuff said. Aaahh, what fun. Ooh, one more thing, PLEASE REVIEW!!! I NEED MORE REVIEWS!!! ^cough^ yes well, I'd really appreciate a bit of feedback, opinions, what I should improve on blah blah blah, and all that. Thanx muchly… : ) Toodles for now!


	4. Doin' It Karaoke Style

****

This isn't a Dance; it's Hell with Streamers.

Chapter Four: Doin' it Karaoke Style

__

Now I get into the Karaoke machine…hehehehe, ahh and what fun it is… ^ - ^. Thanx very muchly for the people's that reviewed…yeah you rock!J (but now I have a taste for reviews, I want more MORE **MORE**!!) Okay err you know the usual drill, I don't own ccs or cc (why? Why did they have to change it so much WHY NELVANA WHY?!) Any-who, onwards and upwards as some…person…once…said…yeah… 

* thoughts *

* _telepathic communication_ *

Ooh and in case you're wondering, the CCS characters (i.e. the ones I didn't make up) are all about 13-14 yrs old, but you probably already realized that, or you just didn't care…but anyway, now you know!! ^ - ^ 

--------

__

I almost yelled out in complete exasperation when a burst of familiar Clow Card magic caused us both to jump back.

The Clow Card had surrounded Sakura in a strange pink aura. And it wasn't _her_ aura. It was too bright a pink. Almost…_Barbie doll_ pink…But when I asked her if she was could sense it, she gave me a look as if I had sprouted a second head or something, and looked up on stage. I followed her gaze. Up on stage, was the girl dressed as Barbie, the very same one that had bumped into Sakura before. She was watching us, winked, then picked up a microphone. The slow song finished and the couples split apart to see why there was a lull in the music. 'Barbie' grinned brightly and said "Like, hey everyone! Now you're all probably wondering why the music, like stopped…"

There were a few scattered, but very unenthusiastic replies. 'Barbie' giggled childishly and continued, "It's time for KARAOKE!!!" Most of the crowd actually seemed to like that idea, there was, of course, a few scattered groans here and there…but I had more important things to worry about. Sakura seemed okay, but that weird aura was bugging me. 'Barbie' was trying to rally up some would-be singers, "Well like, who wants to be first!" She smiled as she scanned the area for any volunteers. Completely ignoring the raised hands her eyes landed on Sakura. "Hey there! Like, what about you fairy girl? You look like you have, like, a _great_ voice." 

Everyone on the floor spun around to look at her. 

I smirked slightly to myself. *Nice try Barbie…not even her best friend has managed to get her to sing, even in _privacy_…you have _no_ chance…*

Sakura smiled then said, "Okay sure, can I choose which song?"

There was a loud thump as my jaw quite literally hit the floor. 

Sakura trotted up and started talking to the DJ, obviously choosing her song. Kalla and Ike walked over, with equal astonished looks on their faces. Madison, who was grinning so much from behind her camera, that I wouldn't have been surprised if the top half of her head would drop off, and Mei Lin, who was just smirking, followed. "Well, I think she's finally cracked, knew it was going to happen eventually."

I ignored Mei lin's comment, but Kalla answered, "She hasn't cracked, the Clow Cards got her." 

Madison peaked out from behind her camera, "Is she in any danger?" 

Kalla shook her head, "…no I don't think so…hang on, I'll just check something…" 

She frowned in concentration, but a second later, her eyebrows shot up in surprise. 

"What? What's the matter"

"Well, she's not in danger as such, but she's none too happy right at this moment…"

"What do you mean?"

Kalla paused, as if debating whether to tell me or not, but sighed and said, "okay, I'll give you the ability to read her mind," she grimaced as she glanced at Sakura, who was getting the mike set up. "but don't say I didn't warn you…" With that said, Kalla waved her hand around in a complicated looking gesture, her face a mask of concentration. 

Nothing happened at first, then I winced as my 'mental ears' were filled with screaming.

****

*_AAAAAAAAAARGGGGGHHHHHHH!!! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!!!_*

I first thought that she was yelling at me, but soon realized that she was talking about the Clow Card, 'Barbie'. She had taken control over Sakura's body using her magic. 

I tried to mentally call out to her, just as her possessed self announced "Okay, this is a song I want to dedicate to _very _special guy out there…" which only made her 'yell' out louder, drowning out my call. One part of me was worried about Sakura, while the other felt a pang of jealousy. I needn't have worried though, as a second later 'Sakura' waved at me and called out "Hey Li!!", then blew me a kiss. I blushed bright red, as Sakura's mental yells got to a level that probably would give me a migraine for a week. 

Then the music started.

------------ 

****

Sakura's POV:

I couldn't believe this was happening to me. For one, I was possessed by a Clow Card who had taken over my body, and two, I had been _this_closeto kissing Li. Not sure why _he_ had wanted to, maybe he just got caught up in them moment or something, but at that particular moment in time, I hadn't really cared. 

So sue me. He's hot.

Life just was not fair. And to think, I was getting all worried about dancing in public before, _now_ I was going to sing. 

Life wasn't just unfair, life _sucked_.

And, to top it all off, 'I' had just dedicated a song to Li. 

It was 'Closer' by The Corrs. 

Madison looked like she had just had all her birthdays and Christmas's rolled into one, and was getting into a good vantage point to record. The piano intro started, and I was powerless to stop, well myself.

'I see you walking everyday   
with a smile beneath a frown   
But I won't look away, yeah   
What does it mean?   
What's there to see?   
  
If I look closer   
Closer, closer   
Closer, closer   
Closer, closer   
Closer, yeah'   


I wasn't a bad singer, but this was still, _the_ most humiliating moment of my life. 

  
Where are you going?   
And what are you thinking at all?   
Your eyes show nothing more   
than a dazed oblivion   
What does it mean?   
What will I see?   


When I look closer   
Closer, closer   
Closer, closer   
Closer, closer   
Closer, yeah   


'I' was gazing lovingly at Li. Really, it was enough to make anyone nauseous. But it just plain scared Li. His eyes had bugged out, and his face was bright red. I think he was _really_ angry too. I knew he could sense that I was being controlled by a Clow Card, he had asked me about it before, but 'I' had just looked at him as if he had a rather large rodent growing from his forehead or something. He probably thought I was just too weak to fight it off. 

  
You don't see me   
watching everyday   
My smile could warm your frown   
And I'd never look away   
never look away   
There's more to me   
than what you see   
  
When you look closer   
Closer, closer   
Closer, closer   
Closer, closer   
Closer, yeah

The fading music was drowned out by applause. My controlled self bowed, and waved. I just wanted to curl up and die, but the Clow Card, i.e. 'Barbie' hadn't finished with me yet. "Hey, that was like, great! Who wants her to sing again!"

Her request was met by deafening cries of agreement from the crowd. It was actually kinda flattering. But, putting it lightly, I was still pissed. If I had control of my body, or at least my arms, I think I would have had to strangle her. I'm never going to look at a Barbie doll the same way again. Luckily, she wasn't controlling my thoughts. At least in my mind I could vent some rage. 

*_GRRRR **DO YOU HEAR ME DAMNIT**!! I'M GONNA **BURN** YOU, YOU **SADISTIC** PIECE OF_ **_PAPER_**! 

Li still looked kinda miffed, but that look suddenly vanished, as his body was surrounded by a pinky colored aura. 

'He' grinned, actually _grinned_. Li, Mr. Emotionless…Mr. Not-so-Happy-Sunshine, was actually _grinning_. 

Well, I suppose you could argue that it wasn't _really_ Li grinning, but the fact still remained that his face, that is so often seen frowning, was now being pulled into a nice grin. 

But the fun didn't stop there. 

Ooh no.

With a sweep of his coat, he strolled over and hopped up on stage in a single bound. He was given a mike by 'Barbie', then turned to me a grinned lopsidedly. Under normal circumstances, a grin like that would have made me weak at the knees. But these were _not_ normal circumstances. It was bad enough that several teenage girls on the floor started to swoon. 

The music started up again, as 'I' started to sing. {AN: Now for any of you who are wondering my reasons for this whole singing part, I've got three words for ya…Think 'Disney Movies'… This _is_ about a Cliché Card after all…But I thought I would jazz it up a bit and make em' do Karaoke against there will. I suppose I should have done it _more_ like they do in the movies, where complete strangers suddenly get the urge to sing and dance around to a song they have never heard before, and a dance that technically never existed until now, and to a score that comes from nowhere. C'mon, you know what I'm on about…But I really just couldn't bring myself to do it. Plus it would have taken too long to explain. Ooh F.Y.I., the song I'm using now is 'I know' by Save Ferris, the version from the '10 things I hate about you' soundtrack…^ - ^}. This was defiantly going to be one video tape that will come back and bite me on the ass on my 21st birthday, if I ever survive till then that is. 

  
'My mama said to stay from guys like you.  
She said they were nasty, make me do things I don't wanna do.  
Stay away from bad boys they've got one thing on their mind  
Their hormones are raging and they want it all the time.'  


I wasn't even paying attention to whatever I was singing, I was too busy yelling at the top of my -err- lungs. 

***_AAAAAAAARGGGGHHH MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STTOOOOPPPPPP!!_***

Nothing, however, prepared me for what happened next.

*_Sakura! Calm down, you're giving me a headache…_*

My mental voice suddenly went up a few pitches, *_LI?!_* 

'And I know, know cuz she said so  
And I can't just let you go  
And I know, know cuz she said so  
And I can't just let you go'

__

*Yeah it's me, but calm down could ya? Kalla gave me the ability to read minds, and you're yelling **really** loudly…*

* _uhh…sorry Li…* _I paused in complete embarrassment, giving me a chance to actually hear what 'I' was singing. _ * wait a minute…I **like** this song! Hey, maybe this won't be so bad after all!*_

***_huh?!…_**oh god, you've seriously cracked Sakura…*

We both paused as 'Li' started to sing the next verse…

  
'I love you very much, you're nice to see and nice to touch  
And I'll never ever ever treat you wrong,  
I've been waiting for you all along.  


If I had control of my eyebrows, they would have shot up in shock. * _Why Li…I never knew…_*

Li's mental voice interrupted me, sounding uncomfortable, * _look Sakura…I…*_

Finishing my sentence, I cut him off, _*…you have such a good voice! wow, you should do it **professionally**!!_* 

***_WHAT?!_*** 

------

****

Li's POV:

I couldn't believe it. Sakura was actually starting to enjoy herself, despite the fact that we were both under the control, in my opinion, by a very sadistic Clow Card. On the outside, we looked like a pair of professional signers. _I_ was singing. 

We were even dancing. 

__

I was even dancing… 

This was like some weird, twisted, psychotic nightmare that I just couldn't wake up from. 

'And I know, know cuz she said so  
And I can't just let you go  
And I know, know cuz she said so  
And I can't just let you go'

  
Can't let you go, ooooh 

Never let you go

Her controlled self was really getting into it. As the music swelled up, she started to really belt out the next verse. 

__

I said I want you to know

I said I want you to know right now

Whoa-ooh **want** you to know

I said I want you to know-ooh-ooh-ooh

Whoa-oh-oh-oh!

And the crowd was really getting into it. They were dancing around, singing along, and pretty much looking as if they were having a real good time. Maybe _too_ good a time. Someone threw a bra onto stage. {AN: and no, I'm not saying that said person was getting naked or anything, coz that's just kinda disturbing, but well you've heard the stories of crazy people in concerts throwing bra's, underwear, and what not on stage right?} It landed on my mike stand, swinging back and forth. Me, in a physical sense, just ignored it. All _I_ could do, the real me, was stutter. Sakura on the other hand found it all rather amusing. My mind was filled with peals of her mental laughter. I don't think I've ever heard her laugh so much before. 

SHOUT! SHOUT! SHOUT! SHOUT!

HEY-EH-EH-EH

(HEY-EH-EH-EH!)

HEY-EH-EH-EH

(HEY-EH-EH-EH!)

YEAH-YEAH-YEAH-YEAHA   
(YEAH-YEAH-YEAH-YEAHA!)  


YEAH-YEAH-YEAH-YEAHA

(YEAH-YEAH-YEAH-YEAHA!)

'And I know, know cuz she said so  
And I can't just let you go  
And I know, know cuz she said so  
And I can't just let you go'

NEVER LET YOU…GOO-OH-OH-OOOOOO!

The end of the song was once again drowned out by deafening applause, as I felt the Clow Card release its hold on our bodies, and move onto somewhere else. Both completely embarrassed, we hopped off stage. As we tried to walk off the floor, people kept coming up to us, wanting to pat us on the back. Well, the more sane people did anyway. A group of costumed hysterical teenage girls came up to me, some of which were actually crying. 

"LI LI! CANI HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH?"

"NO NO! HE WANTS TO KISS _ME_!"

*_Uh oh… this is going to get real ugly real soon isn't it? _* The girls were looking quite rabid. Sakura smirked. *_Hey, they're your fans…you should be flattered…*_

"BACK OFF BI-ATCH, HE WANTS TO MARRY **_ME_**!"

*_are you two finished flirting with each other, coz I think it's a **really** good idea to get out of there** right now…**before you get ourselves in the middle of a rather large cat fight…and you might want to watch out for those creepy looking guys over there too…* _

Ignoring Kalla's earlier comment, we slowly made our way out of the erupting brawl. Most people who were mature enough, parted to let us through, while everyone else was just too wrapped up in 'the match' to see us go.

We ran off and hid behind one of the haunted houses. After her giggles died down, the reality of what actually just happened hit her, and she sighed and ran a hand down her face. "Oh god, that was _so_ embarrassing." Madison smiled reassuringly and replied, "Sakura you have nothing to be embarrassed about, you have a _great_ voice." She turned and looked straight at me, "Wouldn't you agree Li?" 

I was caught off guard, and my face went, for like the hundredth time that night, _bright_ red. "uhh-well-uhh-umm-yeah-I-mean-umm" *_oh yeah, smooth moves Casanova, that was a real good answer…you don't look like an idiot now…_*

Ike chuckled, then asked, "I can't sense the Card anymore so what say we go do something, -err-relaxing for a while huh?" He smirked, looking as if he was trying to hold in more laughter, "And preferably something that doesn't involve people flinging their underwear at you…" 

The girls erupted in giggles again. I just shot Ike the dirtiest of my looks. 

Kero, whom had at some point returned to his hiding spot under Ike's hood, poked his head out and said, "So what do you have in mind?"

Ike just grinned, then pointed to the Ferris Wheel.

------------

****

Sakura's POV: 

I should really be given the award for the slowest learner, _or_ biggest dumb-ass in the world. But going on a Ferris Wheel after what had just happened to me, sounded like a _really_ good idea at the time. The line wasn't long, and I was standing at the back of our group, which happened to 'coincidentally' be next to Li. It was a second before a chamber stopped in front of Ike and Kalla, who were at the front of the group that I realized that only four people at a time could fit. 

On went Kalla, Ike, Madison and Mei Lin, (and Kero of course, but you couldn't see him), leaving me and Li to catch the next. My eyes followed them up as I said to Li through slightly clenched teeth, "If I ever go nuts and start senselessly attacking people, you'll show this event as evidence to back me up right?"

He stepped up onto the next chamber as it arrived and answered "heck…I'll probably be joining you…".

We sat across from each other, in silence, as our chamber rose. I didn't have to look behind me to know that Madison would be happily recording, while the rest would be pressed up against the glass, trying to get a good view. 

I sighed and looked at my feet, "I'm going to be explaining this to a therapist one day, I just know it…"

Li smirked crookedly and said, "at least you can't complain about ever being bored"

I laughed softly in answer. Our chamber stopped and slowly rocked back and forth. We were right at the top, giving us a perfect view of the proceedings below. A full moon was slowly rising in the sky, bathing us both in twilight. It was all a little too perfect. Like from a movie. Made me feel that something was…missing. 

Li eyed my small frown. "What's wrong?"

I paused before answering, "It's just that I can't help shake the feeling that something more is supposed to happen…this all seems a little too predictable…"

"Meaning?"

I shook my head. "I dunno…" *she'll probably set off some fireworks to make things 'more romantic'*

My eyes bugged out as a voice chirped in my mind, *_hey what a great idea!_*

Li sat forward, looking worried, "what? What's wrong" 

BANG!! FIZZLE!! {AN: umm, dunno how to describe it, but you all know what fireworks sound like when they go off… ^ - ^} 

His head snapped around as the blast filled the air, and a shower of sparkles glittered in the night's sky. 

My eye started to twitch as I clenched my fists, "that's it…I…am…going…to…hurt…her…" I released my wand, and was about to jump out of our chamber, when Li's hand jerked out and grabbed me around my wrist. 

"Sit _down_ Sakura, you can't use your magic here, there are too many people around…" We both sweat-dropped as a barely audible squeal came from the vicinity of the other chamber, "ooh they're holding hands! I am _so_ going to make copies of this…." His hand dropped my wrist and he glared in their general direction "No matter how tempting it can be…" 

I sat down dejected and shrank the wand, "ughh, I _really_ need to learn how to block telepathy…" At his questioning look I continued, "…I was just thinking about a scene in a movie I saw, just like this, and it had fireworks and stuff…." I swung my hand around as another firework went off, "And she must have been listening." 

"Oh…so much for privacy…"

The ride was soon over, and we both hopped off, only to come face to face with four slightly disappointed people. I just glared at them. Madison, trying to lighten the mood, smiled and broke the silence, "so, what are we going to go on now?"

Our decision however, was made for us. I sensed the Clow Card flare up it's magic. In one of the 'Haunted Houses.'

"Ooh great, this night just keeps getting better and better doesn't it?" 

Kalla looked amazed, "Wow, you actually sounded sarcastic…Good for you Sakura…"

The 'Haunted House' in question was called the 'Tower of Terror', despite the fact that it was actually only two stories high, and the only thing that actually resembled a tower, was the crudely drawn 'blob' on the sign. It was designed as a sort of mini-indoor rollercoaster things. I could sense the Clow Card up somewhere on the second floor, so I had no choice but to go in and sort it out. The carts that took you in had six sections, and each section had two seats. I don't really have to go into details to tell you who I ended up sitting next to.

The ride started with a lurch, and we were dragged towards two ominously painted doors. They creaked open a second before we hit them and everything went black. 

I creepy scratchy voice floated from somewhere in the perpetual darkness, "_Wel_come to the _TOWER _of_ TERROR_…prepare to be…_TERRIFIED_! MWAA-HA-HA-HA!!" The evil laugh faded, and I whimpered, as we lurched upwards. Mei Lin's voice drifted up from the front end of the cart, sounding bored, "Can it _be_ more tacky…oooohh I'm _real_ terrified…." 

The ride lurched again, and I let out a bloodcurdling scream and buried my head in the nearest available hiding spot, as something creepy looking and white suddenly appeared out of the darkness _right_ in front of my face. 

I heard soft chuckling in front, so I peaked open my eyes. The darkness had been slightly lifted by strategically placed fake candles on the walls, and I realized that I had actually buried my head into Li's shoulder. I sprang back, actually thankful for all the make-up that Kalla had lathered on my face, as it _almost_ hid from everyone else the fact that I was blushing like an idiot.

I sat back again and mumbled, "s-s-s-sorry Li…" He sort-of half smiled at me reassuringly. The section we were travelling through pretty much looked like a hall, though I couldn't really see too far in front. It had the usual fake spider webs everywhere and the white thing that had scared the crap out of me, was actually a fake skeleton…thing. It was missing a leg and someone had stuck the skeletons finger up its' nose. Not particularly scary when you really think about it.

The same creepy voice from before, floated out from wherever the speakers were hidden, as the cart slowed down, and stopped "The _TOWER_ of _TERROR_ is experiencing _TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES_ due to a pair of _FRIENDLY POLTERGEIST'S_…please sit tight…" the voice became lower and more menacing, "_and hang on_…MWAA-HA-HA-HAA!". I squeaked at the mention of poltergeist's but then…nothing. We just sat there. Mei Lin fidgeted in her seat and turned around, "umm isn't something supposed to happen now?"

Trying to hold back my fear, I shakily replied, "wh-wh-what do you mean? The creepy guy said th-that they were experiencing…^gulp^ _technical_ difficulties."

"Yeah but that's just to get you off guard, we should have been hurled forward or _something_." Mei Lin turned around, and leaned over to look over the front of the cart, "hey the track dips down a slope here, I think we're supposed to go down it…" There was a pause, and Madison spoke up, "So why are we just sitting here?"

Kero fluttered out of Ike's hood and hovered above us. "It's the Clow Card, it's tampering with the ride…" The fake candles started to flicker, and we were once again plunged into darkness. The cart we were still sitting on started to vibrate slightly, but then I felt it give way from under me, and I fell to the ground with a thump. Kalla groaned "Owww…ughh that's gonna bruise…" The lights came back on again, but everything looked different. For one, the cart and the track that it was running on had disappeared. We were still in a hall, but it now looked more authentic, more realistic. One side of the wall was lined with windows, and the light of the full moon outside was what was lighting the hall. 

Kalla glanced around, "something tells me we _aren't_ on the ride anymore…" 

Mei Lin stood up and brushed some dust off her costume. "So what do you suppose we do?"

I was trembling, "Go home and never ever come here again?"

Ike looked apologetic, "We can't do that, you've got to seal the card…"

I just whimpered, but stood up and summoned my wand. "I know…let's go and get this over and done with."

Kalla looked chirpy again, "Aah now that's the spirit! Let's go!" She looked around and stopped in front of a door. "This looks good, let's go in here…" Not waiting for an answer, she swung open the door, and stepped in. 

It was a study, poorly lit by the light from the moon shinning through a grimy window. Ike paused suddenly, then swung around to look behind me. "Wait a minute…" he swung back and looked suspiciously at the grimy window in the study, "If the moon is shining through that window…how come it's _also_ shining through _this_ one…they're on completely different sides of the house…" He was right. It was as if there were two moons or something. Kalla frowned, "hey you're right," she stepped back out the room, and returned a second later, "hey this is really weird, _every single_ window shows a full moon…no matter which direction you face…weird" She shrugged and wandered back in, and started to poke around in the study. Madison, who had been looking at something on the huge oak desk in the room spoke up, "hey guys, come and look at this…" She was reading an article from an old yellowed newspaper. 

****

'Professor Still Missing, Police are baffled'

Dr. Edmund Bartley, a professor from Minecast University, who disappeared three weeks ago today, is still missing. Police say that he was last seen in his house, where it was rumored that he performs strange experiments to support his bizarre theories. Dr. Bartley teaches a course on genetics, but it is said that he obsesses with the concept of cross-species cloning. A colleague of his, Dr. Peter Jackson, says that the doctor saw himself as a 'modern day Frankenstein' and was prone to lengthy explanations on how two species of animal can be cloned together at a cellular stage, to build a sort of 'super beast'. For whatever reasons he has for doing this, we will probably never know, as the police say they have no idea where else to look, and have regretfully given up the search. Dr. Bartley has no living relatives and lives alone in the mansion, which he inherited from his late father.' 

Madison stopped reading and skimmed down the rest of the article, "it says here that they're going to sell the house if he didn't turn up in a months time…"

Mei Lin picked up another yellowed paper, "Looks like they never found him, look here it says that the house was sold to a family who had recently moved into the town from the city…" she gulped and continued, "and who disappeared a month after moving in…." A sudden crash of thunder made us all jump.

"Wait, there's more, this other paper says that several months later, an elderly couple moved in, only to disappear three weeks later…wow that's really _creepy_." There was another loud crash of thunder outside, the lightning lighting up the whole room for a split second. But it was long enough for me to notice a stack of envelopes that had fallen on the floor, which had been hidden previously in the shadows. Madison followed my gaze, and picked up the stack. She read the label, and her face went white. Well, I don't think that was really possible, she was already white. I think it would be more accurate to say that she went transparent. "What what's wrong?"

She pulled one of the envelopes out of the stack, and pointed to an article that had written the address of the house, as it was being sold at an auction. "Look, it matches the address on the envelope…". I whimpered and discreetly stepped closer to Li…for protection. I wasn't in the mood not to act like a wimp. Thankfully, although he looked kinda mad and red in the face, he didn't move away. "S-S-So, you're trying to tell me…th-th-th-that _this_ house is…" my voice got high pitched, "_haunted_"

CRASH! Rumble rumble rumble…{AN: I'll just write thunder/ lightning like this from now on…}

Kalla looked solemn and simply replied, "yes"

CRASH! Rumble rumble rumble…

"But it's the Clow Card that created it…just like the Illusion Card."

My voice was still all squeaky, "that doesn't make me feel any better you know." 

Li summoned his sword and moved towards the door, "c'mon, we're not going to find the card just standing around here…" I reluctantly nodded, but followed, closely, behind him as he exited the room. We slowly made our way down the hall, everyone else following fairly closely behind. The hall led us around a few corners, then down another hallway. This one was lined with doors on both sides, and as there were no more windows for the full moon/s to shine through, lanterns lit this hall. We walked without talking, the silence only broken by the sounds of our feet softy tapping on the dusty floorboards. I stepped ahead a bit, when the hall led to a T-junction, and glanced left and right, trying to get some indication of the Clow Card. "I think I can sense the card to the right. But it's really faint so I'm not sure…" I spun around to get everyone else's opinion on the matter.

But no one was there.

------------

Oooooh, kinda a cliffhanger! _And_ this is probably like the longest chapter I've ever written… Yay! Go me! There is going to be _lots_ of S & S sap coming up in the next chapter, _eventually_…hehehe…I have to pull em through the ringer first…you know, near death experiences, evil things, angst, etc. But it will all be made up for, let me tell you…or I could just be getting ahead of myself. As usual, please send in reviews. I _like_ reviews. I _live_ on reviews…well not quite, but you get the picture!! Ta-Ta and toodles for now! 

****


	5. Bring on the Cliche's

This Isn't a Dance; it's Hell with Streamers.

Chapter Five: Bring on the Cliché's… 

^does happy dance, giggling hysterically ^YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!I'VE GOT LOTSA REVIEWS!!!! You like me! you _really_ like me!! Well…you actually like my story…but that's still good!! 

I went away on the weekend (snorkeling on coral reefs! Man I love summer!), but when I came back and checked up on my story, I was like '0 o 0' (that's supposed to be a 'shocked' face…) I had lots of reviews!! Yay! Go me! 

Anywho, I got lotsa q's to answer (if I can) so let's get on with it shall we…

****

Zfighter2020: erm, I'm not _entirely_ sure what you're getting out…but if it was that you were wondering _why_ I chose a 'Matrix' theme costume for Li, it's basically coz I thought it'd just look cool. I mean I _could_ have gone more for your stereotypical Halloween costume, like a ghost/vampire/werewolf/ or whatever, but that's just kinda boring. So I thought I'd 'jazz things up a bit' go more modern or whatever…But if that _wasn't_ what you were asking, then you'll have to send more reviews (shameless plug to get more reviews : P) so I can (eventually) answer all your questions! 

Lea: hehehe, well I can't tell ya, coz it's a _big_ secret…but then again, this _is_ the next chapter…and you'll find out anyway…yes…well…never mind…but thanxs muchly for the great review! 

Blue Phoenix: hehehe…emails are good…emails make me put out more chapters…naa not really, I'll just keep writing anyway…just to annoy the hell outta all of ya!!!! ^cough^ (hmm, I think it's safe to say that the sugar high is still going…) ooh and about the sappy part…he he he…you might want to skip this chapter then, if you really don't like that sort of stuff (I personally don't like it when things get _really_ sappy…when watching something _really_ soppy, I generally sit there and take the piss out of it…it's kinda a bad habit…BUT I JUST CAN'T HELP IT!! Anyway, like I was saying, I'm gonna try and pump so much sap into _this_ chapter that you'll probably want to have a few buckets nearby…it's basically coz almost _everything _has romantic crap in it…and romantic cliché's are probably _the_ most recognizable-err-cliché. (Me speak English good) Sorry if it gets too corny (and believe me it's gonna get corny) but it's gotta be done!! 

Dev: ooh questions, and I can actually answer them(err more or less), yay!! I used the 'no one was there bit' coz it's a cliché used a lot in (mainly the old classic) horror movies (well the ones I've seen anyway). I.e. group was walking along, talking, someone up front asks a question, but no one answers, they turn around, and everyone has mysteriously disappeared. I was going along the lines of that. I've seen it used a lot…so therefore the inclusion…(ooh lotsa big words, makes me feel smart : P ) 

What the card actually does on the other hand, will be explained in a later chapter…trust me, it'll all be cleared eventually. I just can't say now, that'll ruin all the fun for what I've got planned…hehehe (and believe me, I've got lots of (evil) stuff yet to come…). But I can tell you that it defiantly is _not_ a normal card, but like I said earlier, not much is going to be explained until later. Let's just say that the card is very powerful, and just watches too many movies… Thanx muchly for the review!! 

Facier59: I like it too…it took me _ages_ to come up with a song that would fit that bit (and even longer to find the lyrics). But it fits pretty damn good I think, to annoy/embarrass the hell out of Li. (hmm I feel sorry for Li, I pick on him a lot in this story…) oh well, tis all in good fun! (…wait a minute, I've got two reviews from you!! (I need to check my review list more often…) yay! You like my story…makes me feel special!)

redjasper: bury Li under millions of girls hey? I like I like!! (major evil grin) I might just have to use it!! (maybe, depends if I can get it to fit in with my story line. But if I do, I'll mention the fact that you came up with it in an authors note… : P) Am I making her _too_ clueless? I think I may be over-exaggerating the clueless-ness a tad, but oh well, makes life interesting (I think that's my motto for everything…that and 'I'll improvise'…hey, it works for me…) 

****

AnimeHimeko: Thanx so much for the feedback! You have no idea how much I appreciate it. I know what you mean, about how some personal characters take over…it's a pain in the 'nether-regions' sometimes. The way I see it, this story is a Cardcaptors story, so keep it centered around the CCS characters. My characters are basically there for a bit of comic relief, something to 'bounce' (so to speak) the CCS characters off of. 

Maybe I'll have to put my character run-downs at the beginning of each chapter…hmmm maybe, if lots of people start sending in reviews requesting it… 

That would be really good to have you could edit my fic's!! Even though I write them, I have a bad habit of relying on the spell-check program too much and for mistakes like 'the' instead of 'they', it just doesn't pick it up. I do proof read my fic's, but I tend to miss stuff, and I think it would be best to run it by someone else (i.e. you : P) so they can pick up all the bits I miss. (Besides, that way you'll get to read the new chapters before anyone else does!) My spelling can be pretty shocking at times, but I think it's more due to the way I type…my fingers hit buttons before they're suppose to…(honest, it's all their fault)…and having long nails doesn't help either (they grow too fast damnit!!). 

Ooh and you even gave me a rating! Yay! 8/10! Go Me!! (I think I use that exclamation mark too much…) 

****

Hermeny: Sorry it took so long to answer back about you're review…(me so slack) But anyway, thanx muchly for the review! And well I suppose you don't have to wonder anymore about the karaoke part, as if you are reading this, you'd have already read the chapter… ^ - ^

****

Sailor Star: Hmm, that's a really good idea, I think I _will_ make Li find out what he did…(It got me thinking, and I've come up with how I'm gonna do it too…hehehe) Great idea! And I'll mention you in an Authors note too, so everyone will know it was your idea! You lucky person you! (After all I'm not one to steal ideas…borrow, maybe, as long as the original person is asked/mentioned/etc.)

****

THANKS EVERYONE SOOOOOO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS! 

Anyway, in this chapter, as the title suggests, it's gonna have a lot of cliché's in it…both soppy and 'scary', so it won't get too boring and/or nauseating. You'll see a lot of Author's note's too. (More of my wonderful comments for your enjoyment. Aren't ya lucky?) Oh and just a warning, I'm (mainly in the beginning) gonna pump this chapter so full of sap, you'll either be weeping from the sweetness of it all, or re-visiting any of your previous meals, if you catch my drift. I mean, what's more cliché than romance? (You know what I mean, the basic story lines for romance's never really change) 

Anywho, as they say…err-somewhere…'On with the show!'

-------------

__

"I think I can sense the card to the right. But it's really faint so I'm not sure…" I spun around to get everyone else's opinion on the matter.

But no one was there.

-----------

****

Li's POV:

It had all happened too quickly for me to see. One minute I had been walking closely behind Sakura, with the rest of the group not that far behind me, and the next, I was totally alone. And I was completely lost. 

I still knew I was in the house or ride or whatever it actually was, but _where exactly_ in the house/ride/whatever was a complete mystery. I could sense aura's here and there...they were faint, but still just enough to follow. Sometimes it felt like Ike and Kalla, sometimes it felt like the card, and sometimes I could feel Sakura. 

And she felt scared. 

I had no clue where Madison and Mei Lin had ended up, as I couldn't sense them at all because they didn't possess magic. {AN: is that actually true? I'm not sure if it is ever mentioned in the series…but it kinda makes sense…well to _me_ it does…so there : P} I had been walking around for what felt like ages, and I was pretty sure I was walking in circles. I kept coming across what I _really_ hoped were my footprints in the dust or at least the footprints of something friendly. The walls didn't help much either, as they generally followed the same pattern. Either windows with the full moon showing in each or row after row of doors. 

Somewhere however, I must have turned in the right direction as I came across a flight of ancient stairs that curled both upwards and down into the gloom below. From the little visibility I had I guessed that I had to be at least on the fourth floor. Which was, needless to say, really weird. As I had remembered it, when we had walked into 'The Tower of Terror' it only had two stories. 

I guess Kalla was right when she had said that we weren't on the ride anymore. 

I stepped back into the poorly lit hall, and pulled down one of the old fashioned lanterns that lined the walls. It didn't really light up much, but it was better than stumbling down the stairs blind. 

Muttering to myself, I debated whether going upstairs or down would be the best course of action. "Okay, up…or down…up or down…it feels like the Clow Card is upstairs, and I last sensed Ike and Kalla up there too…but on the other hand, I feel Sakura's aura _downstairs_…." I paused, looked up, then down and nodded, "right, downstairs it is" 

I gingerly tested my weight on the first step, it creaked a bit, but thankfully didn't break. I held the lantern out in front of me to give me a better view. The eerie shadows that surrounded me elongated and warped as I slowly made my way down. It was all very foreboding, and I was glad for all the years of training that I had done. I didn't really feel any fear. I refused out right to let my imagination to get away with me. 

I finally reached the next floor down and paused. Sakura's aura felt closer, but not by much. I was pretty sure she was still somewhere in the house, but her aura should feel a whole lot stronger than it did at the moment. Muttering to myself once more I came to a conclusion, "The Clow Card must be trying to mask our aura's…make it harder for us to find each other…" I looked up and frowned, "but why? …and _why_ am I talking to myself…" I scowled and continued down the next flight of stairs.

I came to what I could only assume was about the second floor when I heard something above the noise of a storm that was raging outside. It was too soft to make out exactly what it was, but between the crashes of thunder, it sounding like someone mumbling softly, off in the gloom of yet another hallway. I stopped and listened, straining my ears. In between the noises of the storm, the soft mumbling continued, only broken occasionally by a soft sniffle. And it was coming from the direction that Sakura's aura felt the strongest. 

I held my lantern out in front of me and slowly started to make my way forward. "Sakura? Sakura, is that you?". 

No answer. 

The soft mumbling continued. I adjusted the grip on my sword and lantern and continued walking. The mumbling was getting louder, and Sakura's aura was getting stronger. 

It was defiantly her. 

But why hadn't she answered me? 

I tried calling out again, but as before, my calls were answered by nothing more than the mumbles, the occasional quiet sniffle, and the rumble of distant lightning. 

I rounded the next corner and stopped in my tracks. It _was_ Sakura. She was curled up in a dejected ball on the dusty floor, her back against the wall, slowly rocking back and forth. Her head was hidden in her arms, her wand was lying at her side. Her whole body jerked each time she let out a quiet sob.

You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to see that she was absolutely terrified. 

And I had never wanted to hold someone in my arms as much as I did now. 

{AN: ^starts giggling^ hihihi! That's so corny…but c'mon! You know you want more! ^ - ^} 

Which was kinda weird, because I have _never_ been an overly affectionate guy. I briefly wondered if the Clow Card had something to do with it, and knelt in front of Sakura, placing my lantern on the ground next to me. "Sakura, are you okay? What's wrong…"

*she's scared you nit…you know how much she hates ghost stories, well now she's living one…_Do something about it…*_

*like what?*

*I dunno, I'm just your conscience* 

She had made no response, except to continue rocking back and forth and mutter…I was finally close enough to hear what she had been saying.

"…_I'm all alone…^_sniff_^ they left me all alone…the ghosts…going to get me…^_sniff_^ …won't leave me alone…"_

I placed my sword on the ground next to her wand and hesitated, before placing my hand softly on her arm. Her head shot up, but her eyes where tightly clenched. She cried out "_get away from me_!" and tried to scramble but was blocked by the wall. 

"Sakura…Sakura it's me!" She shook her head, her eyes still shut tight and she kicked out trying to get away from me. "_NOOO, NOO LEAVE ME ALONE_" 

*…she doesn't know it's me…*

In her struggles she had knocked the lantern over, plunging us both into semi-darkness. 

I could still hear her sobs, and they cut through me like a knife. 

She was still struggling against me, but I managed to get control of her wrists, "Sakura, Sakura calm down…it's me! _LOOK AT ME_" 

She let out another sob, but her struggles weakened and in the dim light I saw her tear stained face rise up, and she looked at me. "L-L-Li?" I loosened my grip on her wrists, and wiped a tear off her face as it trickled down her cheek, "It's okay Sakura, I'm here now…" 

{AN: one…two…three…_aaaaaaaawwwwwww…_} 

She tried to smile, but failed, and threw her arms around my neck, hugging me tight. Her voice was barely a whisper. "_oh Li…I was so scared_…" Her whole body was trembling, so I returned the gesture and wrapped my arms protectively around her, holding her close. "Shhh, it's okay…I won't let anything happen to you…"

{AN: aww, kinda makes you feel all warm n' fuzzy inside don't it?}

We stayed like that for a few minutes until Sakura had stopped sniffling. I would have been perfectly happy just to stay like that forever, but I suppose all good things must come to and end. Wiping away another tear I pulled her up onto her feet. "Are you okay now Sakura?" She nodded and stooped down to pick up her wand. I picked up my sword, and gave the toppled lantern a scrutinizing look. Sakura chuckled and said "leave it, I've got a better idea…" I looked questioningly at her, but paused when I felt her magic rise a bit and start to focus above her outstretched palm. A small ball of light appeared a second later, floated up and hovered about a foot above her head, lighting our way completely. She smiled at me shyly, "something Kalla taught me…"

I scratched my head kinda embarrassed, "Yeah, she taught me too…I just forgot about it" I chuckled, "and I had thought that getting one of lanterns down had been a good idea…" 

She blushed prettily and looked down at her feet, then shivered. 

"Are you cold?" {AN: gee, can you guess what's gonna happen next?}

She looked up at me mildly shocked at my offer, then shook her head, "no, I'm fine, really…"

The corner of my lip twitched in a tiny smile, "You're a terrible liar you know…" 

She protested again, but she couldn't hide the fact that she was still shivering. "Here…" I pulled off the long black 'Neo' cloak I had been wearing and offered it to her, "take it…" 

"But Li, it's freezing in here…" I interrupted her and pushed the coat into her hands, "which is exactly why you should wear it, that costume of yours doesn't look very warm…"

She glanced down at her pinky colored fairy costume and giggled, but gratefully took the garment any way. "Thanks Li." 

{AN: aahh, cliché's, don't ya just luv em?…yes anyway, I'll just shut up now…}

She slipped on the coat and sighed happily. I chuckled and said, "Ready to go?" She nodded, and we silently made our way back towards the stairs, giving me a chance to think about what was happening.

*I did it coz she was cold, I did it coz she was cold…she was scared…I was being a friend_… _*

*Yeah, just keep telling yourself that bub, but you know as well as I do that you did it coz you_ like her…_* 

I had never really realized it before, but that particular part of my conscience acted a _lot_ like Kalla.

------------ 

****

Sakura's POV: A bit before Li comes along and gets all mushy…

I was alone. 

Completely and utterly alone. 

I couldn't even sense anyone's aura's anymore. 

Well that wasn't exactly true. I could sense _something _but it was too faint to make out what it was. 

"Guys? Are you there? This isn't funny you know…" I slowly spun around, my head snapping back and forth so quickly that I was beginning to look like the evil-devil-possessed chick from the Excosist. {AN: did I spell that right?} Not that I'd actually seen it, but I'd pretty much gotten the gist of it from Nikki. Made me realize that I was _glad_ that I'd never seen it. 

No one had answered, and my imagination was starting to kick in, but it was _far_ from reassuring. All the ghost stories that Tori had ever told me where coming back to me, which needless to say _really_ wasn't helping.

"Okay guys…jokes over…I'm scared now…" 

Still nothing. 

"Guys?…Madison?…Mei Lin?…_Li_?"

**__**

CRASH!! _RUMBLE RUMBLE**!**_ Thunder crashed _right_ outside, and a nearby window suddenly flew open, causing the tattered drapes to billow out as a violent gust of wind buffeted the old house. I backed away from the window, and cowered up against a wall, as the window suddenly slammed shut again, only slightly deafening the roar of the wind, and the steady bang…bang…bang…of what I hoped were shutters banging against the side of the house. 

It was then that I felt something soft blow up against my neck. I froze, afraid to look, as once again I felt the sensation on the back of my neck, causing a cold shiver to run down my spine. 

I choked down a sob. The walls felt as if they were closing in. 

I felt so trapped. I wasn't sure if it was something in the 'house', or just my over-active imagination, but every tiny noise, every little gust of wind, made me believe that my possible demise was getting closer and closer, floating on ghostly wings.

I had convinced myself that the ghosts of my nightmares were real, and that they were after me. I collapsed against the wall, somehow creating my own void, so that nothing but what I imagined in my head could get through.

I didn't even hear when Li called out my name, even though he was right in front of me.

And when I felt something touch my arm, I panicked, thrashing out at whatever demon had found me. My struggles were short lived, and soon the 'demon' had me in its' grip. It wasn't until the 'demon', using a very recognizable voice, called out "_LOOK AT ME_", that I became aware of my surroundings, and the now strong and also very recognizable aura radiating from the person in front of me. 

I pried open my waterlogged eyes and a blurry face came into view. 

"L-L-Li?" He looked relieved, as he loosened his grip on my wrists then wiped a tear from my cheek as it trickled down my face. "It's okay Sakura, I'm here now…" 

I tried to smile, but failed, instead throwing my arms around his neck. I just wanted more than anything to feel safe again. 

My whole body was trembling, both from the cool breeze that blew through the hall, and because I was just so scared. But Li seemed to know exactly what I needed, and he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close. 

*oh god, he is so sweet…*

We stayed like that for a few minutes, but eventually my sniffles subsided. He wiped away yet another tear as it made its way down my face then pulled me to my feet. "Are you okay now Sakura?" I nodded and picked up my wand as he picked up his sword. He gave a lantern, which was laying toppled over on the dusty floor, a strange look. 

*hehehe oops, I must have knocked it over…* 

I chuckled, then said "leave it, I've got a better idea…" I watched me with curious interest as I focused some of my power into the palm of my hand. A glowing ball of light appeared above my outstretched palm, then rose to hover above my head to light our way. He looked impressed, so I smiled shyly and explained, "something Kalla taught me…"

He scratched his head, looking mildly embarrassed, "Yeah, she taught me too…I just forgot about it" then softly chuckled before continuing, "and I had thought that getting one of lanterns down had been a good idea…" 

His chuckles, which where so few and far between, came as a mild shock which caused me to blush and look down at my feet. 

But that was nothing compared to the shock I got when he actually offered me his coat when I continued to shiver. I tried to protest, but he had insisted and pushed it into my hands. 

We were now walking in silence, upward towards where we guessed everyone else was. 

*Why is he being so sweet all of a sudden? He's been pretty nice lately, but he's never been _this_ sweet before…not that I'm complaining…*

*Dude, how many times do I have to tell you? It's coz he's got the major _hots_ for you…he wants to hold you in his manly arms, softly stroke your hair…kiss you till the cows come home…*

*You know, for something that's supposed to be _my_ conscience, you're not very nice…*

*whadduya mean _not nice_?! I'm just saying it like it is. Let's just say I'm the manifestation of your bad side*

*I have a bad side?*

*Of course you do, _everything_ has a bad side. I just never come out to the surface.*

*Oh…right…you know, even though you're _my_ conscience, you act a whole lot like Kalla…*

*Yeah well, her evil side is just part of her personality…* 

--------------

****

Third Person POV: Kalla, Ike and Kero

Kalla, Ike and Kero had been wandering around aimlessly for at least an hour. And it had become very much aware that they had been walking around in circles. 

Kalla, looking bored, was starting to whine, "but guysss we've _been_ past this way beforrrreee, we're going around in circles…" she paused and glared at a painting, "and the paintings keep watching me…"

Ike raised an eyebrow, as Kero replied in a dry tone, "the paintings…are watching you…riiiigghhthttt" 

Kalla, seemingly ignoring Keros' comment, started to dart left and right, then growled at the painting "_STOP WATCHING ME!"_

"…does she always yell at inanimate objects like that?"

"No, but before she went to therapy she just used to talk to thin air…you gotta admit it's an improvement." 

Kalla, after giving the painting another glare, pouted then sighed dramatically, "this is boring…I thought haunted houses…"

****

CRASH! _Rumble rumble rumble…_

She frowned, but continued, "…were supposed to be, I dunno, _actually haunted_?"

****

CRASH! _Rumble rumble rumble_…

"Is it just me, or does lightning seem to crash an awful lot around here?"

Ike and Kero just shrugged. Kalla paused and started to scratch her chin. Kero glanced warily down at Ike, "uh oh…she's planning something isn't she…"

Kalla chewed her lip, then said, "Carrots."

"…huh?"

Ignoring the confused look on her companion's faces, she paused, then said, "zombie…"

****

CRASH! _Rumble rumble rumble…_

"…_vampire_"

****

CRASH! _Rumble rumble rumble…_

"Werewolf!" **CRASH! **"Ghoul!" **CRASH! **"Ghost!"The crashes of thunder were coming so fast that it didn't even have time to rumble.** CRASH! **"g"-**CRA-_"_**ravy!**_"_… **Then complete silence.

Kalla looked immensely pleased with herself, "ha-HA got ya _there_ didn't I?"

Kero eyebrow raised, dryly said, "looks like you'll have to try for electroshock therapy next time…" 

"Uh Kalla, what was that all about?"

Kalla spun around, a big smile on her face, and started to explain, "well, I had thought it was really weird that lightning kept striking all the time, but I realized there was a pattern."

They both blinked slowly, obviously confused, "_yeeeaaahhh_…"

"Ugghh, do I have to explain _everything…"_

"ummm…well…"

She sighed dramatically and said, "sheesh, well, it's a well known fact that in horror movies, "she paused as thunder once again cracked, "that whenever someone says something foreboding, or mentions something that's, like, evil or whatever, then lightning _always_ strikes." She frowned then continued, "although, I will admit, it's getting a tad over the top…"

Ike and Kero didn't look too convinced "…well known fact…really…"

"Duh! Don't you watch horror (CRASH!) movies?"

"…Obviously not as much as you do…"

Kalla looked mildly frustrated, "come _on_, _work_ with me here people…In horror (Crash!) Movie's, bad stuff _always_ happens at night, and it's _always_ during a full moon, and the people _always_ get separated…"

{AN: I'm talking _more_ about the older horror films…the newer ones are a bit different. But you have to agree, generally bad stuff seems to happen at night, there's usually a full moon, and the characters get separated. Either voluntary or involuntary…which is kinda stupid if you think about it, 'oh I've got a jolly good idea. While we're trapped in a haunted house, let's split up to look for a way out, even though that nagging little voice called common sense is telling us that we are just going to get picked of one by one'. Well not quite like that…but you know what I mean right…c'mon people…_work with me_…: P} 

"So…?"

She looked serious and replied "it means that we have to find everyone else very quickly…"

Kero looked at Kalla confused, "why?"

"Because someone is going to be killed…"

{AN: hehehe, I _was_ going to end it there…just to confuse and annoy the hell out o fall of you! But I've got something even better yet to come…}

--------------

****

Sakura's POV:

I was _really _getting sick and tired of these halls. Whoever designed the place mustn't have had much of an imagination. We hadn't sensed anything for ages, so we had been basically walking around aimlessly, hoping that we might accidentally bump into someone. 

I once again squealed as lightning struck _yet_ again. It seemed to happen an awful lot. There was one point where there were so many crashes of thunder that you couldn't even hear the rumble anymore, just a CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! I got so freaked that I had grabbed onto Li's arm in fear. I think he got a bit mad though, coz his face was all red, but he didn't say anything.

I was yet to let go.

"^ groan ^ I _hate_ lightning…" 

Li looked surprised "but what about the thunder card? You seemed okay when we were fighting that…"

"So? That was different. I knew it was magic, and that we could do something about that." 

Li nodded but said "yeah, but the thunder card is more likely to actually come after you. Normal lightning has a really small chance of hitting anything at all."

*…great _now_ I sound like a big chicken _and_ an idiot* 

"oh…right…" I cringed as yet another bolt of lightning crashed…then there was nothing. 

Complete silence. 

The rain, the wind, the lightning, even our footsteps seemed to go silent.

I stepped a bit closer to Li. "Is it just me ^gulp^ or did everything just go _really_ quiet…?". 

"Yeah it did…something's not right…" I felt him tense up as he tightened the grip on his sword and stepped in front of me, protecting me from whatever was coming. He didn't really need to. I was perfectly capable of looking after myself. _He_ probably didn't think so, but I wasn't about to stop him.

So sue me. He's hot.

The silence was almost tangible. It was really creeping me out, well, more than I already was anyway. Li's head spun around as he searched the dusty hall for any sign of danger, then he stiffened. "…Did you just hear that?"

"…h-h-h-hear what?"

"listen…"

I strained my ears for any hint of a sound, but heard nothing…until…

__

Tick…tick…tick

*It's a clock…it's just a clock…that just happened to start ticking all of a sudden…just a freaky possessed clock that's coming to get us…okay I'm _really_ not helping myself here…*

The noise, and whatever was making it, was getting closer, and it sounded like it was getting faster. Li spun around to face the direction of the noise was coming from, sword and magic ready. Swallowing my fears for the time being, I readied my wand and pulled out the Firey card. We both stood prepared…but nothing came. 

The ticking stopped.

We were enveloped in silence once again. 

"RRRRRRRRRROOOOOWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRR!!!!"

"AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH"

"LI NO!"

I lost my balance as Li was grabbed from behind by something and jerked out of my grasp. I hit my head as I fell, and just before I blacked out I saw Li struggling against a creature, a beast, a hideous nightmare, as it dragged him off. The very last thing I remember seeing before everything went black was Li's sword lying on the floor next to me.

He had dropped it, and was completely defenseless.

--------

Well, he probably isn't completely defenseless. I know he's a good fighter but fists and kicks ain't gonna be enough for the kind of monster _I've_ dreamed up…hehehe…But I'm not going to give away to much now. This chapter has probably left a few of you with lots of questions, which I don't mind answering. But before you go asking just keep this in mind, the next chapter will be explaining a _lot_. You'll just have to trust me. From an actual description of the monster/beast thingy to why and how the gang have been put into a 'real haunted house'. This doesn't mean that you don't have to review, by all means, go right ahead! ^ - ^

Sorry it took _so_ long to get this chapter up, but I've had a really shitty week, to be quite frank. I had to do 7 assignments and 3 tests…my head hurts from all that thinking. I know there are bigger problems in the world and all, and you probably don't give a flying cahoot (hehehe, I dunno what that word actually means but it sounds funny ^ - ^) about my week…BUT I'M ALLOWED TO GRIPE DAMNIT!!! ^cough cough ^ okay, I'm happy know I've got that off my chest… This chapter probably wasn't one of my best, or my funniest, but I've got stuff planned for later on. It'll get better! Really it will! No really!!

Anywho, I'll be able to get the chapters up faster, the next should be up by Friday next week (cross fingers). So till then TA-TA and don't forget all those reviews!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (okay I think that's enough exclamation marks…) 


	6. Pucker Up Baby

****

This isn't a Dance; it's Hell with streamers

Chapter Six: Pucker up Baby…

YEYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!! I GOT LOTS MORE REVIEWS!! OHHH I'M _SOOO_ HAPPY!!!! ^cough^ yes righto then, getting on with point…

****

Zfighter2020: oh good, I was hoping that's what you were getting at. Basically, a cliché is an expression or idea worn out by long use. Nuff said I reckon. Thanx muchly for the review! 

MistressKasumi: HEHEHEHE (evil cackle) all I can say is you just have to wait and see…hehehehe…I've got…_plans_. Glad you and your friend enjoy my fic, and thanx very muchly for the review. Happy face for you! ^ - ^.

****

Sere Tuscumbia: Hehehe I'm glad you find it funny, some people just don't get my humor, (my _mum_ sometimes doesn't even get it, not that I let _her_ read my stories, but I'll joke around at home and she thinks I'm being serious…hmm, go fig.) Thanx muchly for the review!!

****

Kathleen: oh go on, admit, you _love_the suspense…About the whole mind reading thing, I actually forgot to mention that in the last chapter. (hehehe oops…) I'm going to say something in this one, but basically I'm just going to write that the mind reading spell thing that Kalla put on Li wore off. And get ready for more s & s mush to come…^ - ^. Thanxs muchly for the review!

****

Facier59: Hello again! I'm so glad you like my story…it makes me happy that your happy and all that…hehehe…anywho, more chapters up for your enjoyment! ^ - ^ ! Thanxs muchly for another review!! 

****

UnicornHime: DUDE!!! Hehehehe I just went to check out your stories…hehehe _very_ funny and warped…but I _like_ warped, I _am_ warped…mmm valentine sweetheart thingies…but you should see me after a whole bag of gummy bears…now _that's_ not a good idea. (I quite literally can't stop giggling for ages…and I fidget, it _really_ annoys people too, hehehe, I get the remote and click the case on and off…you should try it, see how long it takes for people to crack. It's _really_ entertaining!) Anywho, thanx muchly for the review! ^ - ^.

****

CherrYPinkSakurA: Hehehe, you'll just have to wait and see what I've done to poor Syao-kun…hehehe (evil laugh) You know I actually feel sorry for the poor boy…I pick on him a lot in my stories…but oh well! Hopefully I'll remember to e-mail you…but I'll defiantly send a message when I post chapters up. K! Thanx muchly for the review! 

****

Blue Pheonix: ^ hides in a corner^ I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make it a cliffhanger…sorta…honest! ^cough cough^ Anyway…there'll be lots more cliffhangers for your enjoyment yet to come!…maybe…I haven't decide yet. It wasn't as gushy as I had originally intended…but I think it was enough for now. And I'm defiantly _not_ going to go _really_ mushy, like 'oh Sakura, darling, honey, pet, you are the sunshine of my life, we only just saw each other _5_ minutes ago, but it feels like a _life time_. Woe, woe is me…' (hehehe I crack myself up ^ - ^). But don't you worry, I won't make it _too_ mushy on fear of having my limbs and so forth relocated… (please don't kill me!! I'm innocent I tells ya!) hehehe thanx muchly for the review!

****

Lea: I know cliffhangers are bad, and yes you are right, I am evil…_very_ evil. ^ insert sadistic evil grin here^** MWAA-HA-HAA-HAAAA** So that's why there are going to be more!!!(maybe, I haven't decided yet) Yay! Thanx muchly for the review!

****

Jurei: hehe I was originally just going to call it 'The Cliché Card'…all very inventive you'll have to agree. But I actually got the idea for my title from a joke thing…I can't remember where, but it had something to do with offices…I saw it and got inspired. The new characters, Ike and Kalla, are actually from my first story, 'My Magical Misadventure' but I don't recommend you read it, coz it sucks (first story sucky-ness) But basically, they're both 'aliens' and they live on earth coz their home planet was blown to itty bitty little pieces. They met s + s in 'M.M.M.' coz they had to help stop the evil bad guy bent on world domination. Oh by the way, they look like humans but they can change forms and stuff. There's a better description (I think) in the first chapter, which explains in a bit more in detail. There are other characters there too, but I'm just using Kalla and Ike in this story. Anywho, thanxs muchly for the review! 

THANX TO ALL YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE WHO REVIEWED! Go on take a bow!!

Righto then, on with the business side of things. 

I don't one CC, _or_ CCS, or any of the other groovy anime shows out there…otherwise I'd be really happy, and you'd see a whole lota really weird episodes written by yours truly. And I'd keep all the cute anime guys all to myself too, coz I can…^ - ^. Anywho, I suppose I'd better get on with things…

---------- 

****

Sakura's P.O.V.

*…ughhh, where's an aspirin when you need one…* I slowly pulled myself up from the floor, my head dully throbbing from when I hit the wall. I would have really liked just to stay there, but the meager details of what had happened burned through my mind. Li had been taken by…by _something_, and he didn't have his sword with him. I knew he was an excellent fighter, but the thing was at least a metre taller then him. Nothing short of a rather big bomb looked like it could beat it. 

I swallowed my fears and looked round. I could still see where I was going, my light ball had remained above my head, and it was then that I noticed the dust on the floor. Our footprints covered the dusty surface, then there was a scuffle, obviously where the monster had attacked Li, then a long continuous line, almost as if someone was being dragged. 

Li.

* oh god Li, please still be alive…* 

The drag line lead straight to a nearby door, which, upon investigation, I found was locked. I frowned, the lock was old, but strong. I could have used Li's sword, or perhaps the 'Lock card', that would have been logical. 

I wasn't exactly thinking logically. I noticed that I was still holding the 'Firey Card in my hand…

After reducing the door and a rather large section of the frame to a charred and smoking hole, I cautiously stepped through, hoping that maybe Li was in there, alive and well. 

But _noooo_, life's just not like that is it? 

Of course, the room was empty.

I growled a bit under my breath and surveyed the room. There wasn't any other door leading out, the drag marks only led in here, there wasn't any at all that suggested they had gone out the same way. The room itself looked as though it had once been used as a bedroom, my light ball revealing a dust covered bed and wardrobe, previously hidden by shadows. 

* Okay, there must be a hidden door or something…but the drag marks only lead to a wall…I think…* 

I stepped a bit closer to get a better look. 

There was a hole, a _big_ hole, and it revealed a huge gap behind the wall. My light wasn't strong enough to see how far down the gap actually went, but I could see that it was too thin for me to use the fly card. I could have used the float card to get me down, but because I didn't know how far it actually went down, wasn't really sure if I could make it all the way to the bottom. It was then that I noticed the dumbwaiter.

The tiny compartment I was in squeaked once again in protest, the rusty chains and cogs protesting from being used after so long. My arms where starting to tire but I was yet to see any sign of the monster or Li on any of the floors I passed. Finally, just before my arms felt as though they where going to drop off, I hit the bottom. 

I briefly had a bad thought that maybe the monster had gone up instead of down, but a fresh set of marks caught my attention, leading off into the gloom.

I had arrived in a kitchen, and it, like the rest of the house was caked with dust. 

Everything except for the knives.

It was a bit disturbing really, considering everything else about the 'house' suggested that it hadn't been lived in for about 100 years. The knives on the other hand, were all dangerously sharp, and not one of them even had a fleck of rust on them. 

And they were all big.

I counted at least 20 butcher's knives as I followed the dust trail through the room. I had this nagging thought that I'd seen something like this before…like in a movie…

The dusty trail this time lead me to a narrow flight of stairs, probably into the basement. I stood at the top and peered into the gloom. I could see a dull light on at the bottom, and I could here something down there too. It sounded like someone groaning in pain.

I felt a lump rise in my throat. * no…Li…he's hurt…I've got to help him…*

Pulling on my last shred of courage I descended the creaking steps and quickly hid behind something big and expensive looking. I was in a laboratory, the room filled with old yet technical looking equipment, some covered with sheets, the others with dust. I 'switched off' my light ball, I didn't need it any more, the dull lights, whoever had turned them on, were just enough for me to see. I kept in the shadows trying to stay out of sight, as I crept towards the noise I had heard before.

I passed a table covered in specimen jars and gasped in shock as I caught sight of Li's battered and bruised body. He looked pretty badly beaten up, he was bleeding from a gash in his left shoulder and his body was covered in countless deep looking scratches and cuts. He was laying on the ground and looked like he was only just starting to come to. 

Completely forgetting about the monster, I ran forward and kneeled in front of him. 

"Li! Li, it's me Sakura, don't worry I'm going to get you out of here…" He didn't seem to hear me, so I called out again and nudged his other shoulder. His head slowly rose up. 

"…Sakura?…" His eyes bugged out as he realized it was me. "SAKURA! NO IT'S A TRAP!" I barely had time to say 'huh?' as something that felt like a ton of bricks slammed into my shoulder and sent me flying across the room. I hit the wall hard, and my wand, as well as Li's sword flew out of my hands. I rolled out of the way a second before I huge claw carved through the air, missing me by inches. Getting behind the relative safety of a machine I found my wand, and finally got a good look at the monster. 

For one thing, it was _big_, and had the claws to match. It actually kinda looked like a mutant hamster on steroids. 

That drooled. 

A lot.

Fangs that would make a saber toothed tiger jealous curved out of its' mouth, dripping saliva as it searched the room for its latest victim. 

I.e. me.

It sniffed the air then looked right at me, as it dropped to all fours and made its way over. I gulped then fumbled for a card, my hands shaking from fear as it came closer and closer. I finally pulled out the 'Firey card'. "Firey Card! Release and dispel!"

The flaming spirit leapt out of the card and started to circle the beast. The beast looked up at it confused then started to snap at it, momentarily distracted from its pursuit of me. I should have tried to get out, but I was frozen to the spot. I watched transfixed as the fiery spirit stopped circling and slammed into the beast. It yelped and was flung back out of sight, its black fur smoking from the impact. 

The spirit returned to the card and I stood up, looking over to the spot that the monster had landed.

But it was gone.

"no…it can't be…that was my strongest card…" I backed up, the shred of courage I had used slipped away. Then I froze, as I felt the warm breeze of something breathing down my neck.

{AN: And I think I'll stop it right there…^gets attacked by readers carrying 'death to cliffhangers' signs ^ kidding! Kidding! It's only three pages long at the moment, that's too short for a chapter!!}

I flinched as a drop of saliva dripped onto my head. I almost gagged, as the stench of its breath assaulted my nostrils. I turned around to face it, its' eyes fixed on me. I started to back up again but didn't go far as I hit a wall. I was trapped in a corner, no way out, and my most powerful card proved to be useless against it. * I'm going to die, I don't want to die…so many things I haven't done, it can't end like this…*****

I shrieked and ducked as it swung its' claw only narrowly missing taking my head off. The thing growled in frustration then roared, raising both its' massive paws, claws out, above its' head. I screamed, cowered on the floor and squeezed my eyes shut, expecting any minute now a very painful death. 

I heard a sickening thud, then a roar, but this time it sounded more in pain. 

I waited another second, but nothing. I peaked open an eye and gasped. The beast was laying on the ground, a long jaggered metal pipe sticking out of its hide. I looked up, Li was standing behind it, panting.

-------------- 

****

Third Person POV: Back with Kalla, Ike and Kero:

"Kalla, what do you _mean_ someone's going to be killed?"

"I mean that someone is going to be six feet under, you know, no longer breathing, heart stops, start to decay, become a worms breakfast and all that." 

Ike grimaced. You kinda had to marvel at Kalla's ability to go from completely serious one minute and a completely immature the next. "That's disgusting, but that's not what I meant. What I was asking was why you think all of a sudden that someone is going to die?"

The group rounded a corner and continued down another hall. "Well, you know how I was telling you before about horror (CRASH!) clichés and stuff"

Ike and Kero exchanged looks then replied, "…yeah"

"Well, it's just another one, someone _always_ gets killed or eaten or something, and it either has to be the crazy missing scientist dude, or the monster animal thing that they were writing about in the article."

"But what makes you so sure about _that_."

"It's logical. This whole thing is running like a bad horror (CRASH!) movie. _Someone's_ gotta die before we get out of here, we won't get out of here until the 'movie' ends, and it won't end until daybreak. And before you go asking about why daybreak, it's just another cliché. "

"…oh…" Kero scratched his head then continued. "You know, your logic doesn't make much sense."

"It does if you watch as many movies as I do."

Ike still looked a bit confused "but why did the Clow Card do all this?"

Kero frowned and said, "I think I can explain that. From what I heard, the Cliché card was originally one of the weaker cards…"

Ike wavered at the house in general, "this is what you consider weak?"

"No, it feeds off of cliches. When it was first created, there weren't many stories around to be considered a cliché. But nowadays, you get so many movies and stories popping out, and they all generally follow the same plot. When the card was released all it really needed to do was soak them all up, so to speak, and it got really strong really quickly."

"okay…I think I get your drift, but what has this house have to do with everything?"

"What I think it's doing is creating it's own movie, putting us in a cliché, we are essentially in the card, that's why it's so hard to sense it. I think its making us act out a movie so it can feed off of it, and get even stronger."

"But why choose horror (CRASH!)?"

Kalla continued, "it's probably because it's Halloween, it makes sense to encourage scary (CRASH!) stuff to happen on a night when technically scary (CRASH!) stuff is supposed to happen." 

Ike still didn't look satisfied. "okay then, but what about the other day with the cupid thing?"

"We were watching a romance movie, and they probably have the most predictable cliché's of them all. The card must have been in the tape, and when we started to watch it, it must have been drawn out because it felt Sakura nearby. It would have known she was the CardCaptor." They rounded another corner and found the stairs only going down, then started to descend. "But at the moment we've got to find Meilin and Madison, because they don't have magic, they'll probably be the first to go."

------- 

{AN: now for a little fun to lighten the mood: P}

****

Madison's POV: Completely oblivious to the seriousness of the situation… 

"This is _so_ cool! We could make a _movie_ in this place!"

Meilin giggled and said "yeah and it'd be a box office smash and we'd make millions of dollars!"

"Yeah!!" I giggled along with her as I continued to tape the hall that we were walking down.

"ooooooo…^hic^ ooooooOOOOOooooo…"

"…what's that…?"

I frowned and glanced around the side of my camera. "I dunno…" 

"oooooooo ^hic^ _oooooooo_ _I'm a_ ^hic^ _big sshhcary ghooooooshhht…_^hic^"

For some reason, whoever was making that noise was having difficulties pronouncing the letter 's'.

Meilin grabbed my arm and pulled me around a corner. We slowly peeked our heads around the bend…and almost screaming out in terror as two people walked through a nearby door. 

And I don't mean that they actually opened it either... 

"oooooo ^hic^ ooo-hey? Where'd they go?"

We both sweat dropped. 

They were ghosts. 

But they weren't exactly like I'd imagined them. Besides the fact that they were very noticeably transparent, and that their feet didn't touch the ground, they didn't strike me as the whole 'haunting the house to scare people' type. 

One of them seemed to have had one too many drinks. 

"ooooOOOOooo! I'm a ghossshhhhtt! ^hic^" The drunk one started to giggle hysterically, apparently amused at himself, as the other sober looking one rolled his eyes and sighed, "oh give it a _rest_ Rodney, you're not fooling anyone…" Then we froze, as he spotted us. 

"Oh hello there ladies…"

"…"

The drunk one stopped giggling then squinted at us. "heeeyyyy issa issa issa ^hic^ he paused a bit, apparently thinking "issa issa group of of of" He squinted at us again, as the other ghost rolled his eyes, "they're girls Rodney, and there are only two of them…"

'Rodney' seemed satisfied with that answer and smiled drunkenly, "..yesh…two girrrlssshh…anna pengwin…" then passed out. 

Meilin and I both blinked as the other ghost nudged Rodney out of the way with a transparent foot. "Don't mind him, he's always like that…the names Steve by the way…"

"ummm…hi…my name is Madison, and this is Meilin…"

"uh, hey…"

There was an uncomfortable silence. I had never met a ghost before…and I'd bet Meilin never had either. But they certainly didn't act like the ones you see in the movie. The only thing Rodney looked capable of scaring was a bottle of rum. 

* Boy, it's a good thing Sakura isn't here right now, she'd _freak_...but this is so cool! I've _so_ gotta get this on tape!*

MeiLin looked at the ghost curiously then asked "so, what did you die from?"

I nudged MeiLin quickly with my foot then hissed "MeiLin! I don't think he'd want to talk about it…"

Steve chuckled, "don't worry about it, nothing I can do about it now. I was eaten by Fluffy"

He sounded as if this was all old news. We both looked blank and blinked. "Fluffy? Who's Fluffy?"

Steve looked mildly shocked, "you haven't met Fluffy?"

We both simultaneously shook our heads, still looking blank. 

"Well I suppose if you had of met him, you probably would have been its' lunch. Fluffy is what Doctor Bartley called his creation. Have you read the newspaper articles about the disappearances and all that?" At our nod he continued, "oh good, well Dr. Bartley succeeded, more or less in creating his 'super animal'. But it turned on him. Long story short, Dr. Bartley was the first ghost. My family was the first to move in after he disappeared, needless to say we didn't last long."

MeiLin blinked, "…why did he call it 'Fluffy'?"

Steve shrugged, "I dunno, I asked him that myself, but he's a 'few cards short of a full deck' if you know what I mean, so you generally can't get a straight answer out of him."

"oh okay then" I glanced over at the still comatose Rodney and said, "So he got eaten by 'Fluffy' when he was drunk right?"

"Sort off. He got drunk, fell off the stairs when he tried to slide down the rail,_ then_ got eaten by 'Fluffy'."

At some point while Steve was talking, Rodney had woken up. "I'm not drunk…I'm jussht tipshee ^hic^…" He waggled an unsteady transparent finger in Steve's face, "Unlike you sh-sht-shtee…uhh…mishter, I can handle my my my alceehol…thingy I'llhaveyouknow…^hic^. 

Steve just ignored him and turned back to us. "You'll have to watch out for 'Fluffy' though. He's a whole lot tougher than his name suggests. I believe one guy actually wheeled a piano off of a balcony, hit the thing right on the head, but it didn't even scratch it. It's a persistent little bugger, though, I'll give it that."

"okay, so we just have to avoid 'Fluffy' at all costs."

Steve nodded "Right"

"Right…" Meilin looked thoughtful, "so what does it look like?"

"Kinda like a giant mutant ferret…it drools a lot too." Rodney looking bored started to drift off down the hall. Steve sighed, "I better get going, otherwise Mr. Paralytic over there will try something stupid. Nice talking to you, and _be careful_." With that he floated of, and both ghosts disappeared. 

We both stood in silence, I was the first to speak up, "…well, that was…different…"

"…yeah…I wonder why he called it 'Fluffy'?"

"I don't think that's the point. Come on, we gotta go and find the others and warn them. Hopefully they haven't already met 'Fluffy'…I put a lot of work in those costumes…"

Meilin raised an eyebrow, "I don't think _that's_ the point either…"

--------- 

****

Sakura's POV: Just after Li saves her:

I couldn't stop shaking. It was all I little too close for comfort. If Li had come a second later, I would have been lunch. It was just like Li, he was always there for me. I had once again found myself in his arms trying to comfort me. I had been on the verge of hysterics, but he had pulled me away from the gruesome scene in the laboratory, I had calmed down and we were currently heading back upstairs towards the faint aura's of our friends. Li's wounds had stopped bleeding, but he still looked pretty messed up. "Are you sure you're okay? I could rip some material from my costume and use them as bandages…"

He smirked slightly, but his cut lip made it difficult, "Don't worry about it, I'm fine, besides it will be scary enough when Madison finds out my costume was ruined, she'll probably do more damage than the monster if she finds out you ruined yours."

I smiled shyly then looked on ahead. I had created another light ball, and it was yet again lighting the way. We had gone up about two flights of stairs when I saw something from the corner of my eye; a shadow move. We froze. 

At first nothing happened, then another shadow moved, then another, but the shadows were fading, almost as if a light from above was moving towards us. 

I looked over at Li, but he was looking above us, and he looked relieved.

I followed his gaze and spotted the light coming from a higher up flight of stairs. There was a thump, the light wobbled, then a voice floated down 'Have a nice trip there Kalla?', followed by 'oh hush you'.

"Kalla! Ike! Down here!" Kalla's and Ike's heads peered over the banister, then Kalla grinned and waved. "Hey guys! We've been looking everywhere for you!"

Kalla, Ike and Kero had met up with Madison and Meilin on the way down the stairs, it was such a relief that everyone was okay. Kalla had given me a weird look when she saw me, probably wondering why I was wearing Li's coat, but she didn't ask about that, instead questioned us on what had happened to us, and why Li looked like he had had a fight with a blender. When I got to the part about the monster, Meilin suddenly spoke up, "hey, that's Fluffy!"

Li raised an eyebrow, "'Fluffy'?"

Madison nodded, confirming Meilin's outburst, "Yeah that's what the Dr. guy called his creation…"

"And you would know that how?"

Madison and Meilin looked slightly uncomfortable, and exchanged glances before Meilin continued. "Oh we found a-ahh-journal. It was Dr. Bartley's and it pretty much explained everything about the monster thing." They explained what they had discovered {AN: remember, Sakura is afraid of ghosts, so if they said they were told by ghosts, she would have freaked, so that's why they're making up the 'journal'}, then Kalla launched into her bizarre theory of why all this had happened. It was all a bit much to take in, but she explained it more or less to everyone's satisfaction. 

"Okay, you're saying, in theory, that we have to wait until dawn breaks before we can get out of here?"

She looked thoughtful, then said, "No, that's to much or a risk. I personally don't think we can keep away from Fluffy that long…"

Li looked mildly frustrated, "I told you, I killed it, it's _not_ coming back."

Kalla sighed in exasperation, "look I told you before, _it's not dead_"

"How would you know, you weren't there!"

"No, but something never dies until just before the end of the movie, which is _usually_ signified by the break of dawn…well known fact."

"But it wasn't moving, it had a pole sticking right through it!"

"So, that doesn't prove anything. Haven' you seen 'Halloween H20'? The guy in that gets shot, stabbed, thrown out of a window _and_ hit by a car, and he's still going…not that dawn breaks at the end of the movie, but that's not my point…my point is, just getting stabbed isn't going to do squat."

Li rubbed his temples and gave in, "Okay fine, so what do you suppose we do, if this thing is still supposed to be lurking around…even with a very large pipe through its chest…"

Kalla ignored the tone of his voice, then scratched her chin in thought.

* uh oh… *

"Well, the way I see it, if we create another cliché…"

* oh no…she's up to something…*

"Then theoretically, it should make the Cliché card appear…"

* she always rubs her chin like that when she's thinking of doing something to me…*

Kero replied, "So what exactly do you have in mind?"

"What other Cliché have you seen it use?" 

Madison frowned, then answered, "that would be romance right? Because it used cupid?"

Kalla grinned looking pleased that Madison had caught her drift. To me the grin just looked predatory.

"Exactly, and romances are probably the most predictable, so it won't be hard to come up with something."

Meilin nodded, "Okay then, what do you want us to do?"

"I don't want you guys to do anything…"

Everyone looked confused, "Huh?"

She grinned, trying to hide a smirk, "I only need two people for this," she turned to me and Li, the smirk no longer hidden "and those two people are you and Li!"

* ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrap…* 

I did an impression of a fish before I could actually answer, "wha-but…why us?"

"Simple, we've got two options, either wait around until dawn breaks, which isn't going to happen for a hours, and try and escape a huge blood thirsty monster thing who is probably really pissed off right now considering it's got half a metre of metal jammed in it's guts; _or_ we try for the nicer approach and bring the card to us, so you can seal it, and we can all go home in one piece."

I gulped and hesitantly answered, wondering what I was 'voluntarily' getting myself into. "okay, I think I like the nicer approach…_I think_."

She grinned at me again. * Why do I get the feeling that I'm digging my own grave? * 

"The way I see it, the nicer approach is to create something romantic, because we know it likes them, and because they're easy."

I really should have seen it coming a mile a way, I've watched enough movies to be able to expect it, but I was getting a bit frustrating, she was jumping around the point, and I quiet stupidly encouraged her to go on. "So what do you want _us_ to do?"

She didn't answer me, instead, turned to Li, grinning "Pucker up baby"

I never seen Li so scared before in all the times I'd seen him. "**WH-WHAT!?!**"

Unfased she replied "I wasn't talking about _me_…" then looked at me, "I was talking about Sakura."

We both yelled out that time "**_WHAT?!?_**"

She just continued, "Think about it, it makes sense, you two are the only ones who can do it. The way I see it, the card will be most attracted if people with magic do it. That means that Madison and Meilin are out. Me and Ike can't do it either because we are already going out, and romance movies generally don't concentrate on people already going out. So then, that leaves you two!"

"wh?..wait a minute, you two are going out?"

"Duh? Who else do you think would want to put up with him?"

"Hey!"

"You two are the only ones left, you are the only ones that will work"

"But-but-but-but isn't there any other way?" I wasn't as if I didn't want to kiss him…heck I'd be all to happy to, not that I'd tell any of _them_ that. But he doesn't like me like that, this sort of thing will probably ruin our friendship, and I just didn't want to lose that. 

She shook her head. I couldn't think of anything else, and nobody else looked like they did either. I couldn't look at him, all I could say was 'but-but-but…'

Kalla's voice drifted into my mind. 

* _You know I'm right Sakura, and **I** know you want this to happen._ * Her sounded a bit apologetic * _This probably isn't how you imagined your first kiss with him, but we really don't have much of a choice._ * 

__

* No! You don't get it! He doesn't like me more than a friend, and forcing him to do this will probably ruin our friendship, he'll hate me forever, and he'll never speak to me again! *

Kalla growled in exasperation then continued, slightly angry * _oh don't give me that 'he doesn't like me '**that way**' bull crap. He likes you damnit! Anyone can see it in the way he acts around you except for you. Look Sakura, forgetting the fact that you need to do it anyway to get us all out of here alive, he wants to do it too, **he…likes…you**_ *

__

* but-but-how do you know for sure? * 

She smiled slightly * _call it woman's intuition_ *, she paused, then continued * _look, put it this way, everyone keeps telling you that **nothing **is a coincidence, that everything happens for a reason right?_ * 

* _…yeah…_ *

* _Right. Well then, do you really thing it is just a **coincidence** that the person who comes to get the cards off of you, but then ends up helping you; although at first not exactly being Joe Sunshine, is now a good friend who you rely on _* 

__

* Is this going anywhere..?* 

__

* Sakura, do you really think it's just a **coincidence** that this person is not only male, but also the same age as you? And you both possess a **lot** of magic. You were meant to be together. It's destiny * 

* _But he was engaged to Mei Ling…_* 

* _Yes…**but he's not now**_."

---------- 

Li's POV:

I had no doubt in my mind, Kalla was defiantly and most certainly evil. She should be re-named Beelzebub, or Satan…or Lucifer. Take your pick. The spell she had used to let me read Sakura's mind had worn off, but I could see it in the look on her face that she didn't want to go through with it. That hurt a lot. Sakura is one of my closest friends and I care deeply for her…I love her. That's the only explanation for the way I feel when I'm around her. {AN: corn anyone? I've got tons to spare. Enough to sink a ship really. ^giggles girlishly (which is just weird considering I'm, lo and behold, a girl…) hehehe I crack myself up…}

I could tell that she was having a telepathic conversation with Kalla. I couldn't hear what they were saying but Kalla's aura changes slightly when she uses telepathy. Sakura was blushing, I'm pretty sure I was too, but she was probably blushing for a different reason to me. Their mental conversation ended, Kalla winked at Sakura, and basically looked pleased with herself. 

That was strange. She usually didn't looked pleased with herself unless she got her way. Sakura stepped in front of me, then shyly looked up. Her emerald green eyes meeting my brown. 

* …_oh my god_…this is really going to happen…* 

I couldn't believe it. I was half expecting to just wake up now, find out this really was just a weird twisted psychotic dream, and have to go through another day, only to go to sleep at night and dream it all over again. But it was really happening. 

Funny though, I'd never expected to be doing this because it was a life or death situation. 

I never expected to have spectators.

---------

****

Sakura's POV:

__

* ogodohgodohgodohogod…*

****

This was really happening. 

* _ohgodohgodohgodohgod…_*

He was really leaning in.

__

* ogodohgodohgodohogod…*

__

I was leaning in.

__

* ogodohgodohgodohogod…* 

It was all happening, just like a dream come true…Until Kalla piped up. "Oh by the way, you have to do it like you mean it…no short peck on the lips, it's gotta be _believable_", and pretty much ruined the whole dream like part and sent me crashing back down to reality. 

__

* ogodohgodohgodohogod…*

We were getting closer. I could feel his breath on my face.

__

* ogodohgodohgodohogod…*

So close, barely a centimetre apart…

* _ogodohgodohgodohogod…oh my god…**oh**…**my**…_* My train of thought got kinda derailed right about there, because that was right about the time that I felt his lips on mine. {AN: AROOOOOOGAA! ARRROOOGAA! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! WE CANNO TAKE IT NO MORE CAPPIN', TO MUCH CORN!! ARRRRRGGGHHH! Hehehe…on the count of three again…_aaaaaaawwwwwww._}

* _oh…my…god_…* If I had died right then, everyone would probably be wondering why I had a big 'ol stupid grin on my face.

* okay…we're just doing this to save our friends…no matter how good he is at doing it…Is it supposed to be this good? No wait, that's not the point…the point is…the point is…the point is he's a _really_ good kisser. No wait a minute that's not it…oh right…saving friends…saving friends……Note to self: put friends in life or death situations where the only possible solution is for me to kiss Li…no no! Ohgodohgodohgodohogod_…_*

He pulled me closer, I hadn't even noticed it when he'd wrapped his arms around my waist, deepening the kiss. I would have been perfectly happy to stay like that for, say, the rest of my life, but all good things must come to an end. 

Someone cleared their throat behind us, then Kalla sounding guilty and rather happy at the same time, said, "um it's not that I want to interrupt your…err-moment…or anything" We split apart, my face was burning red, and so was his, Kalla grinned and pointed to her left "but…umm you have a job to do…"

Li's arms slid off my waist and I stepped back to look at what she was pointing to. 

It was cupid. 

And he had the exact same starry eyed expression on his face that Madison had when I tried on a costume that 'looked _really_ cute/great/awesome/kawaii' on me. I spun my wand and called out the charm. "CLOW CARD! RETURN TO YOUR POWERS CONFINED…CLICHÉ CARD!"

Cupid frowned when it realized what was happening, before its' shape was warped and pulled into it's card form. The card at the tip of my wand glowed, the last bits of the spirit were sucked into it, and the sealed card floated into my outstretched hand. I looked around. We were once again at the Halloween Fair, in the 'Tunnel of Terror' which was back to it's former two story, tacky glory. It appeared that the card had stopped time, but had allowed Madison and Meilin to be included, despite the fact that they didn't have magic. I looked at the card. It had a picture of a writer on the front, complete with quills and scrolls. The cliché cards true form. I suppose all cliché's originally come from a writer, so that's why it chose that image.

Ike's turned around and smiled, everyone was back in the seats that they had in the beginning. "good work Sakura…" Then I remembered that originally, I was sitting next to Li. He seemed to be avoiding my gaze, his face was bright red and he looked deep in thought. Ike continued, "I better fix you guys up, otherwise people are going to be wondering why your costumes are different and why Li is all cut up." 

Kalla took care of Li's wounds, and Ike fixed up our costumes, the coat I had been wearing disappearing, before reappearing back on Li. As the last bit of there magic died down the ride jerked forward with a start. I had forgotten that we were actually on a mini roller coaster. 

That was until we dropped down the slope and my stomach ended up somewhere in the near vicinity of my nose. 

After all that had happened to me, the ride just wasn't scary. I didn't even flinch when another skeleton, this time missing its head, jerked out in front of me. I was too preoccupied, had my mind on other things. Or more accurately, on another person.

Li. 

--------- 

Sigh…my wrist hurts…but I got another chapter out, and quickly too! And I didn't even leave it at a cliffhanger…well sorta. Don't you worry all you s + s fans out there! I ain't finished yet. I reckon I can squeeze another chapter out of this story, in fact I _will_! Because that was what I was planning to do anyway!

So did you like? Please review if you do! I really like reviews! Anyway, until next time, TA-TA and Toodles for now! ^ - ^. 


	7. Alls well that ends well...

****

This isn't a Dance; it's Hell with Streamers

Chapter Seven: All's well that ends well… 

****

Bluerini24: 6 stars!! Yay! Go me!! Well, all I can really say is I aim to please (and it worked! Yay I got _6 stars!_) Thanx muchly for the review!

****

Zfighter2020: Glad I could make things clearer for ya! Although about your friends using your head as a locker removal device, sorry, can't do much about that…^ - ^. Thanx muchly for the review.

****

RJ: About Li and Sakura kissing again…all I can say…well I can't say anything, coz you'll find out soon enough in this chapter…(wink wink ^ - ^). Hehehe. Thanx muchly for the review.

****

Jurei: awesome? Incredible? Stupendous work?…awww shucks, your too kind! But do go on…naa I'm just kidding! Even though this is the last chapter for this story, I've got two more ideas (count em 2!!) for more stories…although I'm thinking of combining them to make one Mega Super Story of Unimaginable Weirdness…so you'll have lots more times to review! Yay!! Hehehe, anywho, thanxs muchly for the review!

****

Tenshi no kijutsu: _err _you might wanna skip my first story, where Ike and Kalla come in, as in my 'expert' (snort) opinion, I think it kinda sux. Your welcome to read it of course, but don't expect much (I put it down to my 'first story sucky-ness syndrome'. I was young and naïve!!) 

Dude, I feel for ya; my big sister used to do that to me too…but she's moved out now, so I get the computer _all_ to myself! ( ^ - ^ sorry, had to throw that in…) Anywho thanxs muchly for the review! 

****

CherryPinkSakura: thank you thank you, much obliged. When I update a new chapter/story, you'll be the first to know, (well technically speaking, unless you don't actually check your email often, and then in that case you might not be the _first_…okay I'm just babbling now, too many hours in the sun I think… ^ - ^ ). 

Thanx muchly for the review!

UnicornHime: Of course I had to name it fluffy! Fluffy is such an obvious name for a mutant gerbil thing that eats people…although after I uploaded the chapter I _then_ thought up with a few more(figures). I think I should have called him Mr. Tinkles…or Mr. Giggles hehehe I like that one ^ - ^, something like that would have been better…but oh well, we live and learn. 

Hmmm I think the main moral here is to stay away from anything containing sugar…dang it, there goes my main source of food…hehehe once again, happy face for you ( ^ - ^) and a big thanxs for reviewing! 

Hermeny: Don'tyou worry, I've still got another chapter coming (well it's actually this one…) so get ready for more s + s mush…and probably a whole lot more of my sarcastic little comments that you probably all just _love_to read ^ - ^. I have absolutely _no_ idea what I was on when I came up with that drunk ghost thing. I was going to put ghosts in the story anyway, because hey, what's a horror story without ghosts? Then I got this idea in the twisted void of my little mind, 'hey why not make things more interesting, let's make one of them drunk!' Besides drunk people are funny…I had to lighten the chapters up a bit too, getting too serious I reckon. Anywho, I've got stuff to write, so a big thanxs to you for reviewing! ^ - ^.

****

Empress Sarah-sama: I'm glad you liked it!I had to make her think something interesting…^ - ^ thanxs muchly for the review!

****

Unigirl: oooooh wow! ^jumps up and down like a 5 year old ^ yay! Am I _really_ going to be on your fave list? ^giggles, then starts clapping ^ Yay me! You just made my legendary person list! Anywho, thanx muchly for reviewing. 

Anywho…**THANX SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**( okay I think that's enough 'o's') **MUCH FOR ALL THE REVIEWS**! You legendary people you! (go on, take a bow)

Well, it's finally here…^ sniff ^…the end…the last chapter…the final cahooni (I have no clue what that means…I probably made it up or heard it somewhere, but it sounds funny! And if I've just insulted someone in their native language or something, sorry bout that, no offense intended.

Anywho, now for what you've all been waiting for!!!!

The Disclaimer!!!! (Gets pelted with rotten fruit, whilst being chased by groups of angry people wielding pitchforks) Kidding! I'm kidding, the stories coming. (Idon'townclampcardcaptorsORcardcaptorsakura.Nosuingisallowedasallyou'llendupwithissquat.)

-----------

****

Sakura's POV:

I swear, for someone supposed to be my best friend, Madison sure does like to humiliate me as much as possible. As soon as we had stumbled out of the 'Tunnel of Terror', she had whipped out her camera, and was making good use of the playback button.

Needless to say, I was hanging back; So was Li, but I was too preoccupied to notice.

"^squeal giggle^ ohh this is going to be _soo_ good! ^giggle^."

Kalla, Mei Lin and Madison where huddled around the camera, Ike had sat back a bit, and was looking over Kalla's shoulder. Kero had once again retreated to Ike's hood.

"…wait!, back it up a bit!" The girls paused as Madison fiddled with the buttons. 

Then they were silent.

I hate it when people suddenly go silent. 

I backed up a bit more.

"…^squeal!^ _oooh that's **soo** sweet!!_"

I looked around for somewhere to hide.

"…_dude_, Madison, did you have to zoom in?" Kalla turn to Madison with a slightly amused grimace on her face. "When I hinted that they needed to play tonsil hockey, I didn't actually mean that we needed to see their tonsils…"

Or perhaps a nice hole for me to curl up in and die would be appropriate. 

I distinctly heard a Li sounding voice drift out from wherever he had gotten to, "WE WERE NOT PLAYING TONSIL HOCKEY!" Which only made things worse, because now complete strangers were milling around wondering what all the excitement was about.

* …_why me?_ *

Getting back to the conversation at hand. "What?! I slipped…"

Kalla didn't looked convinced, "oh really, Miss Queen of the Camcorders and Winner of the Film Festival Junior Division 3 years running…"

She scratched the back of her neck, "err…well…yeah…I umm slipped ^nervous laugh^…happens to the best of us."

I used the opportunity to slip away…_far_ away. Besides the fact that I had to get away from my camera crazy friends, I needed time to think. But my gut was telling me that I needed to talk to Li, if he would listen. 

-----------

****

3rd Person POV:

Mei Lin wearily looked around at the people that had gathered, muttered something under her breath that sounded like, 'damn nosey people', then spoke up, "okay people, nothing to see here, break it up!" The group looked a bit disappointed at first, but upon the look that the one carrying the black pitchfork shot them, it was in their best interest to get _far far_ away.

Kalla turned back to the little viewing screen, then tilted her head to the side, "Eww, did you really need a close up in Sakura's nose…"

MeiLin raised her eyebrows, "Sakura's nose? I thought that was Li's…"Both girls frowned then tilted their heads to the side. 

Madison did the same, then quietly replied, "I suppose it's kinda hard to tell this close up…"

There was a pause, then a collective sigh. 

"…hey, were did they go?"

Ike just shrugged as Madison looked up. "We've got to find them before they do anything that I can record!"

MeiLin and Kalla smiled ruefully and followed the frantic hippie {AN: Madison was dressed as a hippie remember…}, Ike just shook his head and brought up the rear.

-----------

****

Li's POV:

* It really happened, I did it…this isn't a dream…*

People were giving me weird looks. I suppose a guy dressed as Neo, talking to himself and pacing back and forth behind a bush _was_ kinda unusual.

"I…I…I actually ^gulp^ _kissed_ her…no…this has got to be some weird twisted psychotic joke set up by Kalla for her own amusement…yeah that's it…"

I softly rubbed my fingers over my mouth, "But…but why does it feel like her lips are still on mine?" I scowled and continued to pace. "UGGHHH! Okay that's _not_ helping. Gah…you are such an idiot Li." I smacked myself in the forehead, then realised I was attracting a crowd, and walked off to a more secluded spot behind the school. Funnily enough, I ended up in the spot where I first met Sakura. Where I had tried to take the cards off her, so long ago. The memory was still fresh in my mind.

I scowled again, rubbed my hand down my face…then started to rhythmically smack myself in the forehead. "_stupid_ ^smack^ _stupid_ ^smack^ _stupid_ ^smack^ _stupid_ ^smack^…"

"…uh Li, are you okay?"

I froze. It was Sakura.

"Sakura! ^blush ^ Uhh hi…" 

* ughhh, I am _such_ an idiot!*

*No argument there buddy, but what are you going to do about it?*

*I-I-I don't know*

*Oh come on, it's not _that_ difficult…_tell her how you feel_…_tell her you **love her**…_*

She was blushing and looking down at her feet. My face felt hot enough to spontaneously combust.

"umm…Li? We need…to talk…"

I looked down at my boots and replied softly, but hesitantly, "…I know…"

Good idea in theory, but neither of us actually said anything. 

I heard her walk forward, then felt her hand gently grasp mine. She was standing right in front of me, looking at her feet. She seemed to be thinking about something, as she paused before saying, "Li…did you…did you do it just to save everyone…or did…" She paused, then raised her head to look at me. Guilt hit me like a rampaging elephant {AN: …don't ask} when I saw that she was on the brink of tears, "did you do it because…_you like me_…" The last part was barely a whisper, I almost didn't hear it, but it was load enough to make my heart start thumping and my conscious screaming out at me to ***_TELL HER YOU STUPID NIT!_*** 

I wasn't really thinking at the time; what with Sakura being at so close a proximity, my conscious screaming at me, the stress finally catching up with me from our 'adventures' in the 'Tower of Terror'. I was kinda going on instincts, and the one word that had to come out of my mouth would be remembered…as the _stupidous_ thing said in history.

"…no…"

* _oh_…_my_…_god_…I am the conscious of the biggest dumbass in the history of complete dumbasses…* 

*_shit_*

I was in complete shock. I couldn't really believe I had just said that. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. I felt Sakura's hand slip out of mine. Felt my chest clench when I heard her softly sob. Her eyes, windows to her soul, showed confusion, then hurt. I watched, unable to react as she stumbled back, tears trickling down her face, unable to be stopped. 

*_DON'T JUST STAND THERE YOU STUPID IDIOT, STOP HER!_* 

I blinked. "Sakura wait! That didn't come out right! What I meant was I did it because I lo…" I paused mid sentence, the two words I wanted most to say catching in my throat.

She froze, but didn't turn around. My conscious, now at a point of profuse swearing, was giving me a migraine. * **_YOU ABSOLUTE_** &^%*%* **STUPID** &$%&#$% **DUMBASS **&$^$&%&*** **

"…what…were you going to say…?" She turned around slowly, then hesitantly looked at me.

I looked into her emerald green eyes and knew exactly what to do. 

Stepping forward, closing the gap between us, I cradled her head in my hands and kissed her once again on the lips. 

*I don't know _where **that**_ came from but…oh stuff it…I'm never going to get tired of this…but first…* 

I pulled back, then leant to the side to whisper in her ear. "_I did it because I love you Sakura…_" 

{AN: Come on, you have to admit, I'm full of shit aren't I? (well metaphorically speaking of course) And yes I know it's pretty much the ol 'I don't like you, I _love_ you' cliché. Some of you will object…but **TOO FREAK'N BAD!! _MWAA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!_** ^Stardragon runs around in circles cackling maniacally ^…^cough cough^ err sorry about that. _Anyway_ I couldn't really think of any other way of doing it…I had another idea, which would of made it a _bit_ more humorous, but it just didn't fit. So anyway, there you go…I think I did it a bit more…'stylishly' than just saying, 'well _no_ Sakura, I don't like you…I love you…' yeah well that's my excuse anyway…so there}

Sakura pulled back and looked right into my eyes. 

For once I didn't look away. 

For once I wasn't blushing like an idiot.

"…really?"

"really"

She giggled, sniffled then wrapped her arms around my waist, as she leant forward and whispered back in my ear. "…_I love you too…_"

We chuckled as we leaned forward again, to do the only thing that's appropriate at a time like this…I only wish that Kalla didn't keep referring to it as 'playing tonsil hockey'.

"**_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO_**!" 

Our eyes snapped open and we pulled away from each other. A particularly rabid looking Madison had just turned the corner, her camera held in a white knuckled grip. 

Sakura grinned shyly and waved a bit at Madison. "err hi Madison…what's up?"

Madison is really scary when she's angry. Probably because I've _never_ seen her angry before. Her eyes were practically glowing as she growled through gritted teeth. _"YOU WILL DO THAT **AGAIN** DO YOU HERE ME! I'M GETTING THIS ON TAPE! IT'S MY RIGHT **DAMNIT!**_" 

The rest of our group rounded the corner {AN: that's Meilin, Ike, Kalla and Kero.} Kalla looked from the seething Madison, to Sakura in my embrace, then to the camera. She grinned, figuring out what had happened, then attempted to calm the enraged camera girl. "Madison…now calm down…"

Madison spun around, in the process plucking a fake flower out of her belt loops, and pointed it threateningly in Kalla's face. Kalla leaned back as the fake Gerbera {AN: that's a type of flower by the way…}waggled dangerously an inch from her nose. Meilin intervened and gently lowered Madison's arm before she did some serious damage via flower power. "Now calm down Madison, you still have a nice close up shot of them making out from before okay…and you'll have plenty more opportunities to film them when they don't know…" Meilin ignored the '**_WHAT_**?! and death glare that I shot her as Madison whimpered and calmed down, mumbling something about zoom lenses and stealth gear before going back to her usual cheery self. 

* uh boy… *

****

~~~~~~~~~~~(Time gap!!! Still Li's POV: )~~~~~~~~~~~ 

I was finally able to sit down. It had been a _long_ day. We didn't go within 10 feet of any more 'Haunted castles', I think we all had enough of them; instead we stayed around the dance floor. Sakura and I had spent most of the night just dancing together. It felt so good that I was _finally_ able to hold the girl of my dreams in my arms. For the first time in my life I was truly happy. 

We had dropped Sakura off first, Madison had insisted. It was obvious that she just wanted to get a tape of me kissing Sakura good night, not that I'm objecting in anyway. 

It scared the crap out of me when Tori opened the door, _right_ when we kissed though. But the really scary thing was he didn't yell. 

He just stood there, eyes wide, just staring at me. Then his eye started to twitch. Long story short, I had a nice sprint home. Meilin had told me, when she finally made it back to my apartment, that even with all 5 of them clinging on, Tori was still able to move pretty quickly, and it wasn't until Julian had come along and talked some sense into the boy that he calmed down. 

For now anyway. 

Painful torturous death aside, Sakura and I are going out on Saturday. It feels really weird to say that, but it's finally starting to sink in. The Clan might need some convincing, but the way I see it, what's better than the leader of the Li Clan with the future mistress of the Clow Cards? {AN: in the timeline I'm using, final judgement hasn't happened yet…so he's being optimistic} Madison made me keep the Neo costume, saying something about it having sentimental value. 

She's a strange girl Madison, but she's a good friend, despite her taping obsession. 

Talking about tapes, I had been laying on my couch trying to get my breath back from my sprint home when Meilin had come home. She had explained the 'Tori Story',{AN: hey that rhymes!} giggling through most of it, then had chucked a package on my stomach as she bounded into the spare bedroom to get into her pajamas. Apparently it had been lying by the door, I had been in too much of rush to notice it. 

It was a blank videotape, there was no return address and the only indication of whom it was from was the sticky note attached to it. 

'For Li, Sakura tried to stop me from showing this to you, but I think you'd like to see it…

J MadisonJ '

Meilin wanted to watch it too, so I was just waiting for her to finish getting changed. 

I looked nervously at the tape again. * It's not from today, the post mark says it was sent a few days ago…it better _not_ be anything embarrasing…*

Famous last words.

Meilin came in and made herself comfortable on an arm chair as I pushed the tape in and pressed play. The screen was filled with static, then cleared…showing what looked like Madison's room and…

"is that…_cupid_?!"

Meilin stifled a laugh.

"…"

"…"

"…**_AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!_**" 

{AN: thanks to Sailor Star for the idea! (I originally wasn't going to write that Li found out what he did when he was possessed by cupid…you know in chapter 2, but Sailor Star mentioned putting it in, in a review and it got me brain cells a' firing and well, there you have it! Good way of ending things!)

-------------

^sniff^ that's it…it's all over. No more chapters are coming out for 'This isn't a Dance; it's Hell with streamers'. It's been great! ^ sniff^…Oh who am I kidding! I've finished! Yay! Now I can get started on my _next_ story. Aren't you all so _lucky_. A big big **_THANK YOU!_** To all you wonderful legendary people who reviewed. Go on give yourselves a pat on the back! I really appreciated (and appreciate…you can still review for the last chapter…I'd really like you to!) the feedback. Thank you _soooooo _much. 

But the insanity doesn't end there. Soon, I'll have another story out (I've actually got ideas for about two so far, but I'm only going to write one at a time). I don't know what I'm going to call it, I haven't come up with a title yet, but stay tuned to my Biog. thingy for more of Stardragons madness! As is my style, it'll be a humor fic, as well as having a bit of romance, and a bit of action/adventure thrown in to make things interesting. I'll also be using the original names for the characters (when I finally get them all, and I can spell them right) and Eriol will also be in it to! (I felt sorry for Madison, she needs a partner in crime).

It will be set in the near future, i.e. after all the cards have been changed into Sakura cards, but Li and Sakura haven't admitted how they feel about each other. (everyone growns…'no! not another one!) You all know, deep down inside, you love that cliché! I'll probably say that they are about 16 yrs old or something, haven't decided yet. That's all I'm going to say. I know it's a shameless plug to get people to read it but hey! Life's like that! 

Anywho, even though this is the last chapter (and a rather short one at that, I've just noticed) I still _love_ reviews (I thrive on them in fact…well not really) So please review!! Tell me what you think of the chapter, the story as a whole and all that! I really would appreciate it! 

Thanx muchly! 

Ta-Ta from the crazy one known as Stardragon! 


End file.
